All you need is love; this is not only a song but rather a remedy to achieving healing. Through love one is healed of violations of the heart, and is lead to a deeper relationship with our Lord. In order for love to heal one must know what the reality of love is, understand genuine anger as love, and present forgiveness as love to find healing.
First, one must come to understand the reality of love in theologically terms. In order for one to understand love, one must understand that it is God who first loved us. According to J. Brennan Mullaney author of Authentic Love Theory and Therapy, writes, “Theologically, God is Love; Love is God. Supreme Love, God (by whatever name) created all things, not out of “nothing,” (the word used by many theologians) which obviously does not exist, but out of the only thing that did exist, God’s own substance, Love” (97). Thus one can say we exist because God first existed, and we now love because God first loved us. Mullaney also states, “Love demands openness. More accurately love is openness” (107). This explains that one must be open to love, in order to understand the reality of love.
Next, one must come to understand that genuine anger is love. One can see anger as the opposite of love; however, genuine anger is out of love. Mullaney explains, “ In its authentic form, anger is the voice of a heart that has been hurt, a voice which is controlled and proportionate to the injustice, a voice purposefully expressed so as to restore and heal love that has been damaged”(155). Mullaney continues, “Thus, authentic anger, as contrasted with it abuses, can be identified in light of the same ontological definition as love itself – as a movement toward authentic good, viz., restore justice” (155). From this one can see that true anger comes from the violation of the heart. Moreover, someone has been hurt due to the violation and is seeking to repair it.
Finally, one must forgive in order to love which leads to healing. Mullaney writes, “Forgiveness is an essential prerequisite for healing every emotional wound or disorder. Unforgiveness blocks healing” (193). He continues with, “One unforgiveness is chosen or incurred; it fills the wound of the heart and saturates the memory of the experience, thus excluding the possibility of love reaching and healing the wound” (193). These quotes affirm forgiveness, as the means to love which the end unwavering is to love. If one cannot forgive, one cannot love, and one cannot obtain healing.
I cannot help but think of how good the Lord is to me. Understanding true love is sometimes difficult in today’s society. True love is misrepresented. First, I understand that God is love, and that all love comes from God. “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Cor. 13:1). Next, I must love, I must be authentic. “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things endures all things” (1 Cor.13: 7). Love is all that is good and lastly, it never fails. “So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love" (1 Cor. 13:13). Love is the greatest virtue which heals all. Love gives us the opportunity to forgive and to heal. Lord allow me to understand your love. Help me to restore love, forgive those who have hurt me, and allow those I have hurt to forgive me. Lord let me love as you love. Amen.
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