Enduring love

[Love] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.      — 1 Corinthians 13:7

Like many people, I enjoy the Google homepage artwork that appears on special days and holidays. Last Valentine’s Day, the artistic logo showed an older couple — a man with a cane and a white-haired woman — walking hand in hand as the woman held two heart-shaped balloons. It was a beautiful reminder that while our culture glorifies youthful romance, true love has many stages during our journey through life.

Paul’s great essay in 1 Corinthians 13 celebrates the depth and tenacity of the love that carries us beyond self-interest and mere affection. “Love suffers long and is kind: love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; hears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails” (vv. 4-8).

Brian Wren has captured this reality in his moving hymn, “When Love Is Found”

When love is tried to loved ones change,

Hold still to hope though all seems strange,

Till ease returns, and love grows wise

Through listening ears and opened eyes.

Hope Publishing Co.

When our commitments are tested in the fires of life, no matter what difficulties we face, may God grant us a greater experience of His enduring love and the grace to demonstrate it each day.      — David McCasland

READ: 1 Corinthians 13:1-8

God’s love is a fabric that never fades, no matter how often it is washed in the water of adversity.

The Bible in one year:

• Leviticus 14

• Matthew 26:51-75