Jan 22, 2015

Worth the Risk?

— Pastor Scott Hausrath

North Loup SDB Church, NE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Various song titles communicate the idea, e.g., J. Geils Band’s “Love Stinks” and Pat Benatar’s “Love Is a Battlefield.” Various song lyrics also communicate the idea. In “Love Bites,” Def Leppard sings, “If you’ve got love in your sights, watch out; love bites, yes it does. It will be hell.” In “True Love,” Pink sings, “Nothing else can break my heart like true love.” What is the idea these people are communicating?

 

These messages seem to be a warning that love is a bad thing, because it causes pain. Has this been your experience? Has love caused you pain?

 

I disagree with what these songs are saying. The problem is not love. The problem is the context in which

we experience love. Because this is a broken world, everything we experience, even if it’s something as wonderful as love, is experienced within the context

of brokenness. The people we love are broken, and sometimes they act out of their brokenness, which leads to relational pain. We do the same ourselves,

as we try to love others. I certainly do. Sometimes I allow my brokenness to manifest itself in fear, anger, envy, or other feelings/attitudes that cause pain and are extremely destructive to relationship.

 

What’s the solution to our problem of brokenness? Should we just give up? Are we to abandon the wonderful goal of connecting with others in love, friendship, etc.? Our enemy would have us do this, because he knows that isolation brings death. God, however, wishes us to have lives that are full, not empty.

 

One significant step in the right direction is to openly acknowledge our situation. That’s what Joe, one of the characters in the film “Super 8,” did as he said to another character, “Bad things happen, but you can still live. You can still live.” This is an acknowledgement that, though we do experience pain in relationship, pain doesn’t paralyze us. It’s our attitude toward pain that sometimes paralyzes us, if we allow it to. If we view pain as something to be avoided at all costs, one of those costs will eventually be our own relational paralysis.

 

Commander Chakotay of the starship Voyager said it very eloquently, in a conversation with Mr. Neelix: “Nothing makes us more vulnerable than when we love someone. We can be hurt very easily. But I’ve always believed that what you get when you love someone is greater than what you risk.”

 

If you agree with Commander Chakotay, that the benefits of relationship outweigh its risks, then you’ll also agree with what Homer said in the film “Tomorrow, When the War Began”: “The biggest risk is to take no risk.”