By David Faust
In 1901 a songwriter in Chicago named Carrie Jacobs-Bond published her composition, “I Love You Truly.” The song sold over a million copies (one of the earliest songs composed by a woman to do so) and became a favorite at weddings. Three American presidents invited Jacobs-Bond to sing at the White House. Her song concludes sweetly, “Gone is the sorrow, gone doubt and fear, for you love me truly, truly dear.” Cole Porter’s “True Love,” released in 1956 and popularized by Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly, says, “You and I have a guardian angel on high, with nothing to do but to give to you and to give to me love forever true.”
By 2016 those sugary lines gave way to the tart lyrics of another song called “True Love,” performed by the British rock band Coldplay. This time the heartbroken singer instructs his estranged partner, “Just tell me you love me. If you don’t, then lie, Oh, lie to me.” Love’s sweetness completely disappears by the time we get to “Bad Guy,” this year’s Grammy award winner for Song of the Year, in which 18-year-old Billie Eilish grunts sarcastically, “I’m that bad type. Make your mama sad type. . . . Might seduce your dad type.”
Members of every generation dream about love, but the alarm clock of harsh reality shakes us awake. True love, it seems, is rare.
Don’t Diminish Love
A friend of mine reviewed the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, and the Chalcedonian Creed, and discovered not one of these famous belief statements contained the word love. Surprised, he also examined the belief statements posted on the websites of several Bible-believing Christian churches and noticed the same glaring omission. How can Christians attempt to tell the world what we believe and leave out love?
For Christ’s followers, love is nonnegotiable. According to Jesus, love for God and love for our neighbors top the list of commands. “The greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13), but is love the first word that comes to mind when your unchurched neighbors think of the church?
Don’t Deify Love
The Bible says, “God is my Rock” (Psalm 18:2), but it would be idolatrous to say, “This rock is my god.” Likewise, the Bible says, “God is love” (1 John 4:16), but we shouldn’t twist the words around and think “love is god.”
Agape love is central to God’s character. He cares, gives, and sacrifices for the well-being of others. But God has other attributes as well, like justice, truthfulness, holiness, and grace. Our definition of love should come from Scripture, not from culture, and we should never misuse love as a lame excuse for immorality. We worship the loving God; we don’t worship love itself.
Don’t Detach Love (from Truth and Action)
With love and truth, it’s not either/or, it’s both/and. Someone said, “Love without truth lies; truth without love kills.” Jesus commanded, “Love one another” (John 13:34), but he also insisted, “The truth will set you free” (John 8:32). Love and truth are inseparable. God’s blessings “will be with us in truth and love” (2 John 3).
Love is far more than a Christian platitude or a theme for romantic music. Love sounds good as a noun, but Scripture reminds us to treat it as a verb.
Personal Challenge: Do you treat love as a verb? Each day this week, do a small act of unselfish service for a family member, neighbor, or coworker.
Author: David Faust
David Faust serves as contributing editor of Christian Standard and senior associate minister with East 91st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is the author of Not Too Old: Turning Your Later Years into Greater Years.
