Love endureth all things is what Paul says about agape after he writes in 1 Corinthians 13 that love hopes all things. No matter how much I mediatate on God's word, something new is always revealed to me. There is a supernatural genius about how this passage is put together. You see, our hope fuels our ability to endure. Endurance enables us to continue to love through the storms that test our resolve.
Endure:
- to remain
- to tarry behind
- to remain i.e. abide, not recede or flee
- to preserve: under misfortunes and trials to hold fast to one's faith in Christ
- to endure, bear bravely and calmly: ill treatments
In this culture we have a tendancy to abandon relationships that are not currently functioning the way we would like them to. Look at the number of abandoned children, or the 50% divorce rate in America. Look at how often some people switch jobs or doctors. We are a people that love to jump around and experience new things. Or abandon ship at the first sign of trouble. Unfortunately, the creator of the universe values endurance in relationships over the ending of relationships. You see how we relate to each other is a picture of our relationship with our heavenly father.
Please do not believe that this only applies to marriage, but I'd like to use marriage as an illustration for this principle. Marriage is a metaphor for God's love for his people, and Jesus' love for the church. Thus, the husband shall love the wife as Christ loves the church. Christ will not simply abandon his bride if she burns the bread. He will not abandon her is she fails to come home one night. He will not abandon her if she is known to be unfaithful to Him. He will continue to love her, cherish her, teach her, protect her, regardless of her behavior. Christ has chosen, or elected his church. Husbands and wives elect one another. Once that election occurs, it is sure.
Thus, when we encounter tests in our marriages, we must allow our hope that God's will is being done always to allow us to endure. Satan will try to break apart everything God has put together. He is the great divider. He separated us from our God from the begining. He will separate us from one another because an isolated Christian will fall faster, further, and harder than one who is loved and supported regardless of their shortcomminngs.
Enduring love, agape love is God's plan for every relationship. It is the thing that allows us to trust each other. Stay with me here. We trust God because he is unchanging. He is the same today, yesterday and forever. The same is true of our loved ones. I cannot put my trust in people's emotions. Emotions are fickle. Any trust in emotions is foolishness. I have walked with God too long to be fooled in that way. What I have learned (through a very painful, sobering work of the Holy Spirit) is that I can trust in those who rely on the hope of glory to strengthen them to endure through any dumb thing I can think of doing. And I can think of some pretty dumb things to do. I cannot trust myself not to grieve people. The Bible says that the fact I believe in Jesus greives a bunch of people I don't even know. So I know in this life I will offend. Therefore, I can only trust in those that rely on God to give them grace to forgive me, and endure my human fraility, as I endure the human frailty of others. I hope that makes sense. Love endureth all things.
