Love is Suicide

I was listening to “Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness” album by Smashing Pumpkins the other day and there is a song called “Bodies”. It includes a very startling phrase – “Love is suicide.” The juxtaposition of these words makes little sense. Love – which carries the ideal of society – equated with suicide - considered a coward's way out and often the product of mental instability. But as I think about discipleship, these combined words can make sense.

Matthew 16:25 “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” Or, as the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in The Cost of Discipleship, “When Jesus bids a man come, he bids him come and die.”

Following Christ means dying to self. It means killing off many of the selfish expectations one might have for one’s life. If we desire to rise to the heights of politics, social standings, or career advancement, our hands are not fit for the plow. At the same time, to take seriously Christ’s call to follow Him leaves little room for the things the world holds dear. A life of discipleship will not endear or engender us to the world.

Lets face it, having standards is political suicide. Extending the hand of fellowship to the freaks and losers is social suicide and probably will cause us to end up in such a group. Considering others better than ourselves and putting them first is career suicide and will not advance us up the corporate ladder.

True discipleship that is based on love for God and others is suicide. And yet, that is the message of the gospel. But proclaiming this aspect of the gospel has become less and less popular as time goes on. Why? Because sacrifice and death are not marketable. How can we expect to make converts if the cost could mean our very lives? That concept is not easy to spin and market.

Yes, love and discipleship are costly. But as usual, our selfish mindset causes us to focus on what we are missing out on instead of what we gain. In addition, we see Christianity as just a blessing for the next life and miss out on the blessings of discipleship in this life. Richard Foster looks at this issue in the following way:

“Nondiscipleship costs: abiding peace, a life penetrated throughout buy love, faith that sees everything in the light of God’s overriding governance for good, hopefulness that stands firm in the most discouraging of circumstances, power to do what is right and withstand the forces of evil. In short, it costs exactly that abundant life that Jesus said He came to bring.”

Yes, love is suicide. But living a mediocre spiritual life causes us to miss out on some of the greatest blessings that God is dolling out. Giving one’s life up to gain a better one – seems crazy. But maybe there is something to this whole discipleship thing.