What the world needs now is love, genuine love

The other day, I was jamming along to tunes from the 60s in my car, when I was swept away in an instant to childhood by the tune What the World Needs Now Is Love.

Perhaps I should explain. My sisters and I loved to have shopping days with my mom. We lived out in the country, and at the time, we had to drive the better part of an hour to find a grocery store or the mall. So we wouldn’t just plan a trip to the store; rather, we would make a day of our errands, in order to save on gas and be more efficient. 

Often, my little brother Casey decided not to come with us, as he could only endure but so much shopping. On these days, Mom would usually pick up a small treat to bring home for him. On one such occasion, it was a big button (you know the kind you pin to your jacket or shirt?). I believe it was green, and if memory serves, it had an illustration of a big sheepdog on it. 

But the most important detail about this button is that it played that tune, What the World Needs Now Is Love. Ironically, this button that sang about love soon became a weapon. It wasn’t long before Casey realized that he could use this singing button as a grenade of sorts. 

If we sisters were all congregating in one room with the door closed, Casey would skillfully tiptoe to the door, detonate the singing button, slide it under the door, and run away as the button sang:  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.

We would inevitably squeal his name in unison:  “Casey!” And we could hear his laughter from the other room. All as the button played on. That was the thing about that button. Once the song was turned on, you couldn’t turn it off. It only stopped after playing the entire song. 

We girls began to pray that the button’s batteries would run out, just to give us a break from that tinny rendition of the song that never seemed to end. I remember hiding that button a few times, feeling half-guilty yet half-relieved. But Casey always found it. And we were all reminded that what the world needs at any given moment is love. 

I’ve been thinking about love a lot lately, as I study 1 Peter, simply because Peter finds it so important to talk about loving one another. He starts off in the first chapter:  Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have a sincere love for each other, love one another, deeply, from the heart (1 Peter 1:22).

I feel like love is one of those things it’s so easy to imagine ourselves doing well. It’s so simple to love others until we actually have to interact with them when they are at their worst. It’s then when we realize this idea of loving others is way more difficult than we had thought. Or maybe the concept is simple, but the execution can get a little tricky.

You know what is easy? Pretending to love others. Growing up in the church and growing up in the South, I have to confess that it has been a very natural thing to make it look like I love others. I know the right things to do and say, and I know how to smile and make everything look nice and lovely. 

But what kind of love does Peter say we should have in this verse? He doesn’t say we should practice a pretend love for others, one that just looks good; rather, he specifies that we need to have a sincere love for others. A deep love. A love that comes from the heart. Ouch! This is a whole lot harder, isn’t it?

What Peter mentions next that seems to relate to this is found in chapter two, verse one:  Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. What I find so intriguing about this list is that the attitudes or behaviors mentioned here have something in common:  insincerity, or pretense. 

If we follow this idea, then a good first step to developing a sincere or genuine love is to get rid of what is insincere or fake. 

Malice

Let’s start with malice. I know it’s not a word we use a lot these days, but malice is the intention or the desire to do evil toward someone. Sometimes we call it evil intent or spite. It is looking to harm someone, and perhaps it’s the way we sometimes go about doing this that can involve pretense. 

Think about it. If you harbor ill will toward someone, if you have extreme dislike or hatred for someone, you may try to hide it (pretend it doesn’t exist) because you don’t want to come off as the bad guy (especially if you know Christians aren’t supposed to hate anyone and therefore feel guilty for having this feeling in the first place). 

But it still seeps through, as rottenness always does, in smaller ways. Even though you have tried to mask it, it shows itself eventually. In order to live more genuine lives and have a more sincere love for others, we need to be honest with ourselves and with God when we really don’t like someone else, when that may grow into a feeling of malice toward them. God can help us deal with that, but we need to be honest about it.

Deceit

Deceit is pretty straightforward in its definition:  it’s the action of deceiving someone, either by concealing or by misrepresenting the truth. Look how the famously wise Solomon puts deceit and malice together in Proverbs:  Enemies disguise themselves with their lips, but in their hearts they harbor deceit. Though their speech is charming, do not believe them, for seven abominations fill their hearts.Their malice may be concealed by deception, but their wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.Whoever digs a pit will fall into it; if someone rolls a stone, it will roll back on them. A lying tongue hates those it hurts, and a flattering mouth works ruin (Proverbs 26:24-28).

Hypocrisy

The next behavior making an appearance in Peter’s list is hypocrisy. That’s an easier one for us to understand because we use this term a lot today. According to modern philosophers, hypocrisy can come across in four different ways:  inconsistency, blame, pretense, and complacency. Inconsistency is when we demand that others do things we ourselves don’t do. Blame is when we criticize others for doing what we ourselves do. Pretense is when we claim to believe something when we actually don’t. And complacency is claiming to have a certain set of beliefs but only doing the bare minimum in order to squeak by (https://everydaypsych.com/whos-a-hypocrite/).

I just thought it was interesting to see hypocrisy broken down into categories, but for us as believers, the bottom line is we can often tell when we’re being hypocritical. We just need to be more disciplined in listening to the Holy Spirit when He convicts us of this, confessing it to God, repenting of it, and being humble enough to change. Paul tells us in Romans 12:9 to Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. 

Envy

Envy is next on Peter’s list. We are pretty familiar with envy. Aristotle is said to have defined envy as pain at the sight of another’s good fortune, stirred by “those who have what we ought to have.” The Bible has a lot to say about envy, but I’ll only share a couple verses here.

Titus 3:3-8 tells us:  At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

Although envy may be a natural reaction when someone else gets what we ourselves want, the Bible makes it clear that it is not an acceptable attitude to have as a believer. At one time, we may have been filled with envy. But now we are filled with hope in Jesus.

James 3:13-16 says:  Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

Slander

The final word on Peter’s not-to-do list is slander. Slander is defined as making false and damaging statements about someone. James 4:11-12 is very clear about this:  Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you – who are you to judge your neighbor?

Ephesians 4:31-32 sums it up for us:  Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

And one more, Colossians 3:7-10:  You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

So my brother’s button was right – what the world needs now is love, but maybe we should clarify that it needs genuine love. How important is this? From Jesus Himself:  A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another (John 13:34-35).