Some of my childhood memories revolve around the music I grew up listening to. We all have a soundtrack of our lives that echo the times in which we live. I grew up in L.A. during the sixties—a tumultuous decade of war, riots, assassinations, violence and racial unrest. One song I remember that blared from our 8-track player in my father’s car was “What the World Needs Now” composed by Burt Bacharach. The song was released and made popular by Jackie DeShannon in 1965, but Dionne Warwick sang the version I remember.
Lord, we don’t need another mountain
There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb
There are oceans and rivers enough to cross
Enough to last till the end of time.
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
No, not just for some but for everyone.
What was true in the sixties is still true today. Once again our country is boiling over in riots, violent protests, racial unrest, hatred and fear. What is needed now is not another press conference, or another tweet from our leaders, or another protest march where people end up dead. It should be clear to everyone that we do not have the answers to the problems that plague us. There is only one answer. What the world needs now is love. And “God is love” (1 John 4:8). He’s the only thing that there’s just too little of.
In case we forgot, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails” (1 Cor. 13:4-8).
Let’s do our part to change the discordant soundtrack of our times and allow the music of God’s love to play through us.
