Love Like Crazy

I love country music. I could listen to it everyday. When I workout I often listen to Josh Turner or Rascal Flatts. My present favorite country song is Love Like Crazy, sung by Lee Brice. Here is the chorus:

Be a best friend, tell the truth, and overuse I love you. Go to work, do your best, don’t outsmart your common sense. Never let you prayin’ knees get lazy and love like crazy.

This chorus is chop full of biblical truth. I don’t always agree with all country music lyrics, but with this I completely concur. It got me thinking. How can I emulate these truths in my life? And encourage others to do the same? Let’s check it out.

1) Be a best friend- “A friend loves at all times…” Proverbs 17:17 “As iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another.” Proverbs ? We need accountability in our life. We need someone who will listen when we need to talk, love us when we need a friend and correct us when we go astray. We also need to be this for someone else. I am grateful for the ability to name many individuals I can call friend. I hope I can be the same for them and others.

2) Tell the truth- “Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.” Psalm 34:13 Truth is defined by dictionary.com as “conformity with fact or reality;” We can ‘speak’ in many different ways. We ‘speak’ through our actions as well as our mouths. In our actions we can deceive people to make them believe we are something that we are not. We can also speak lies for the intention of making ourselves look better or worse or smarter or less intelligent than we really are. All of these are lies. We should strive to be truthful in everyway.

3) Overuse I love you- I love so many people in my life: My parents, grandparents, siblings, friends, teachers, and many others. But how often do I let them know? Every time I end a phone conversation with one of my parents one of us will say, I love you, and the other will respond, I love you too. Sometimes it seems a bit cliché but I appreciate it every time I hear it. Everyone wants to know that somebody loves them. I don’t think it is possible to overuse saying I love you. If you haven’t told someone in a while that you love them, I suggest that you pick up the phone, or shoot them an email or letter just to tell them how much they mean to you. You will be surprised what that might mean to someone.

4) Go to work- Work consists of many different avenues. You can work at a business, or on your studies. If you are physically able, it is important for you to support yourself by getting a job and not to rely on your parents or others your whole life. If you are a man raising a family it is more important that you have a job in order to support them. Work doesn’t have to be boring. Find ministry in your workplace. Seek to glorify God as you work. This leads us to the next line…

5) Do your best- “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men.” Colossians 3:23. No matter what your job entails do your best for this pleasing to the Lord. He is the one who gave you the ability to do what you are doing so be thankful and fulfill your task to the best of your ability. Whatever you do means everything. Studying for a test, exercising to stay healthy, doing some physical work to earn money, or whatever you do, do it as for the Lord and not to man.

6) Don’t outsmart your common sense- We have a saying around the Handley house that I heard fairly often growing up. It seemed no matter how much I heard it it just didn’t stick. “Don’t do dumb stuff.” As I think back on the “dumb” decisions I made in high school I regret overlooking common sense. Never think that you are smarter than the situation and be sure to think things through before making decisions. It will help you in the long run. Believe me.

7) Never let you prayin’ knees get lazy- “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;” Philippians 4:6 This line I believe is the most important in the whole song. “Prayin’ knees” keep us humble. They keep us from raising ourselves above others or thinking we’re good enough and don’t need anyone. God promises to give grace in any circumstance, if we come to him in faith and humility. (Hebrews 4:16) Even in the good times we should be praying and thanking God for his goodness.

8) Love like crazy- I often hear love defined as a touchy feely feeling, something that people fall into. My personal favorite definition for love is; “a quite steady decision of the will to care for someone.” Love is giving of yourself sacrificially. To love like crazy one would do things for people and care for people without expecting anything in return. We should love like Jesus would. Jesus said in John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this,that one lay down his life for his friends.” I am not suggesting that anyone go and die for anyone else. I am simply suggesting that you think of others as more important than yourself and love like crazy.

Maybe this can be a challenge or encouragement to some of you. I know it is for me. For fun I’m going to add the last line of the song. It’s just cute and fun.

Always treat your woman like a lady. Never get too old to call her baby. Never let your prayin’ knees get lazy and love like crazy.