There was a time when I thought I knew a lot about love. Believed I knew what it felt like to love someone in a selfless way, or even to be in love. The thing I have been learning though, over the past few months, is that love is always expanding, never staying in one place. This, I think, is because God’s love is so infinite and big that no matter how much we think we understand, in our humanness, we only see/feel/ know a fraction of His all encompassing love. And so the more we experience God, and His Divine love, the more our understanding of love itself grows. There will never be a time when I know all things about love, because God is love. Its a mystery, and my understanding of it will always be pushed, stretched, even broken and then rebuilt. This is the verse that is currently shaping my understanding of love...
“ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 1 Cor 13:7
What is this verse ultimately saying about love? What so many millions of poems and love songs, movies and art have been proclaiming for thousands of years! Love is NOT overrated. It is both simple, and extremely complex. It is at the core of our being, our creation. It is the thing we are made to experience, and the most powerful aspect of human interactions. Love is profound. Love is grand. Love IS divine.
Love tells me that I am to “bear all things”. When my kids are pushing me to the brink of exhaustion and back, I will bear it. When they are breaking my heart with running away, I will bear it. No matter what God calls me to do, what this ministry goes through, what battles are waged against us, I will bear it.
Love claims I will “believe all things”. When everyone tells me a certain child will never change, love believes he can. When this work tests my faith, draws me out on a wire far above where I was comfortable standing, love shouts “believe in God’s ultimate power!”. Believe in the power of love... God’s love, and my own. Believe that love can heal whatever looks too far broken. Believe that love can bring together what seems impossible. Believe in the power of our God.
Love demands that I hope all things- never loose hope. Never loose sight of what I am doing here, the vision that God has called me towards. Never loose hope in His great plans, or hope in His ultimate victory. Never loose hope that He is working, no matter what circumstances I am facing, or how hard the situation appears.
Finally friends, love endures all things.
en·dur·ance
/enˈd(y)o͝orəns/
NOUN
1. The fact or power of enduring an unpleasant or difficult process or situation without giving way.
2. The capacity of something to last or to withstand wear and tear.
This, for me, is by far the most powerful claim that love makes. It endures all things! That word, endures, is so strong. Its the power to “withstand wear and tear”. Its the power to stay strong and not give way. This claim love makes, to endure all things (not some but all things, mind you) its powerful. Hello, what does this say about love? What we should know always but sometimes forget.. love is STRONG. Stronger than our understanding. Stronger than our own faith or bodies. Love is another great paradox. It makes us weaker than anything else, breaks our hearts and tests our faith, then turns around to endures more than anything else. It can do so because its so strong, and in our weakness, we become stronger.
“ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 1 Cor 13:7
What is this verse ultimately saying about love? What so many millions of poems and love songs, movies and art have been proclaiming for thousands of years! Love is NOT overrated. It is both simple, and extremely complex. It is at the core of our being, our creation. It is the thing we are made to experience, and the most powerful aspect of human interactions. Love is profound. Love is grand. Love IS divine.
Love tells me that I am to “bear all things”. When my kids are pushing me to the brink of exhaustion and back, I will bear it. When they are breaking my heart with running away, I will bear it. No matter what God calls me to do, what this ministry goes through, what battles are waged against us, I will bear it.
Love claims I will “believe all things”. When everyone tells me a certain child will never change, love believes he can. When this work tests my faith, draws me out on a wire far above where I was comfortable standing, love shouts “believe in God’s ultimate power!”. Believe in the power of love... God’s love, and my own. Believe that love can heal whatever looks too far broken. Believe that love can bring together what seems impossible. Believe in the power of our God.
Love demands that I hope all things- never loose hope. Never loose sight of what I am doing here, the vision that God has called me towards. Never loose hope in His great plans, or hope in His ultimate victory. Never loose hope that He is working, no matter what circumstances I am facing, or how hard the situation appears.
Finally friends, love endures all things.
en·dur·ance
/enˈd(y)o͝orəns/
NOUN
1. The fact or power of enduring an unpleasant or difficult process or situation without giving way.
2. The capacity of something to last or to withstand wear and tear.
This, for me, is by far the most powerful claim that love makes. It endures all things! That word, endures, is so strong. Its the power to “withstand wear and tear”. Its the power to stay strong and not give way. This claim love makes, to endure all things (not some but all things, mind you) its powerful. Hello, what does this say about love? What we should know always but sometimes forget.. love is STRONG. Stronger than our understanding. Stronger than our own faith or bodies. Love is another great paradox. It makes us weaker than anything else, breaks our hearts and tests our faith, then turns around to endures more than anything else. It can do so because its so strong, and in our weakness, we become stronger.
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