No Lie

Who remembers that old Nazareth song "Love Hurts"?  It's not an encouraging number. From the anguished voice of the vocalist to the melancholy strains of the guitar, the song just oozes angst. But it is strangely appealing, pulling at the memory most of us have of some past hurt--either real or imagined.

One of the most pessimistic lines of the song is this: "Love is just a lie made to make you blue." Not very poetic or deep, but the tune got a lot of airplay, making it to number eight on the top 100 list in the spring of 1976. (You really have to see the expression on the guy's face as he sings. And the hair! But I digress.)

There's been a lot of talk about love recently, and I'm here to say a little more about it. A few years ago, I had the privilege of contributing to a devotional book called Love is a Verb. The idea of the book is, I believe, a biblical view that love is not how we feel but what we do--a behavior we decide on. That's not to say emotions aren't involved.  I certainly get a wonderful feeling from loving acts, and I am often inspired to loving actions by my emotions.

But sometimes I'm inspired to loving actions by scripture. The apostle Paul had a lot to say about motivation.  In his letter to the Romans, he exhorts the readers to "let love be without hypocrisy." He goes on to talk about "brotherly love" and "affection." The thrust of this whole chapter (12) is that we shouldn't think of ourselves as being better than others; instead, we offer ourselves as "a living sacrifice." 

What does such a sacrifice mean? Sometimes it means letting someone else choose the movie. It might mean digging a hole to help your neighbor plant a rose bush or putting down a book to talk to someone who needs a listening ear. It may mean something much bigger: a lifestyle change or a difficult stand for the truth.

In some of these cases, love might, indeed, hurt a little, but the end is so worth the sacrifice. And that is certainly not a lie.   

--Sherry Poff