“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” (Jackie DeShannon, 1965)

It would be hard to argue against the fact that our world today needs a little more love. Right? The hatred, bias, and vitriol combine to poison our interpersonal relationships.

Everything coming out of Washington, D.C. and the institutions once held in such high esteem is now suspect and criticized. The default today seems to be alignment with one side or the other, with no room for honest debate.

How did we get here, and what do we do to correct it? The causes might seem complex, but I believe the solution is pretty simple.

Much of the fault for our current situation resoundingly falls at the feet of our elected officials–supposedly our leaders. While some go about their job quietly, and hence, we don’t hear from them, too many are driven by the media and big money.

Quick to criticize the other side and refusing to work with them, they’re glorified by biased media outlets and financed by the big money of polarizing special interest groups.

Sadly, the vast majority of Americans who align in the center, or slightly left or right, are not well-served by their “leaders” in government.

We all know our founders didn’t intend for political office to be a lifelong career. Do you think they envisioned a system where our representatives in government would be primarily motivated by what it takes to win the next election rather than what’s best for their constituents? I don’t think so.

So, when our self-absorbed elected officials spin their wheels, and the media we depend on for truthfully reporting news are no longer dependable, to whom do we turn?

Our founders made the divine providence of God fundamental to our nation’s founding. That may be an inconvenient truth for those today who want to do away with any reference to God.

That’s right. Let’s take God out of our Pledge of Allegiance, and off of our currency. Eliminate the Christmas tree, destroy the Menorah, and ban the Bible and the Koran. Seriously?

What the world needs now more than anything else is love, and the ultimate expression of love is God. We need more of God in our lives, not less.

Why? Because we’ve gotten way off-kilter in our country. A few examples:

• The greatest nation in the world shut down its industry, education system, and houses of worship in response to a pandemic. Rightfully so at first, but then we didn’t adapt and re-open as we learned more about the virus and how to protect those at real risk. And when have we ever needed our houses of worship more?

• A militant organization duped Americans into believing they were a movement for social justice, and as a result, we had civil unrest and riots in major American cities.

• A child in Washington State as young as 13 years of age can have gender-altering hormonal therapy without parental consent or counseling.

• A 15-year-old girl in Oregon with gender dysphoria* can undergo a mastectomy without parental consent or counseling.

• Nothing against an American pop singer, but when people travel from all over the country to march in support of her over what at heart is a personal family matter, we might just be establishing false idols.

• People march for, and supposedly seriously-minded government officials support, defunding the police. We saw what happened.

• Many able-bodied people have been perfectly fine with sitting at home and drawing unemployment rather than returning to work. Read the book of Proverbs.

• In some districts, grade school children can select their pronoun of choice without their parents being informed. Do you think that might create gender confusion?

• We’ve legitimized the birthing of viable near-term babies who are left to die.

If we haven’t lost our minds, we’ve at least lost our way. There are nefarious influences operating in our society, gaining more traction, and attempting to become the norm. It will only stop if we speak out against it.

One doesn’t have to be “religious” to understand the importance of God in our lives. In fact, God needs to be the cornerstone of our existence. That’s the only way I see to defeat the hostilities in today’s society.

Recently, I’ve heard many people state that, regardless of what we’re seeing today, they’re reassured that God’s in charge; that “He’s got this.” His presence brings a peace and reassurance unmatched by any other force, good or evil.

Isn’t that exactly what the world needs now?

* Gender dysphoria is real, but it is rare. Children are making life-changing decisions without fully understanding the consequences.