The beauty of biblical love and perseverance is that even when we mess up, stumble, and fall, because of Jesus' sacrifice for us, we can choose to start over and love again.
"Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away" (1 Corinthians 13:6-8, NIV, emphasis added).
A couple of months ago, YouVersion posted a song by Kristina Mever entitled: "1 Corinthians 13:4-8." The goal was to help readers memorize verses of Scripture so they could remind themselves to walk in love daily. As cheesy as it might sound, I memorized the chunk of Scripture in a little over a day because it was catchy, set to music, and prompted my heart.
In 1 Corinthians 13, we're given a lengthy list of what biblical love should look like. We know that God is love, and if we have a personal relationship with Him, that love should radiate through us (1 John 4:7-21). This includes qualities like patience, kindness, goodness, and self-control that Galatians 5:22-23 recalls as the Fruits of the Spirit. These are gifts that God gives to His children.
Does Your Love Always?
When I started reading verse seven, however, I realized that God's love asks me to do something radical; God's love asks me to "always." Always protect, always trust, always hope, and always persevere. Panta, the Greek and Hebrew translation of "all things," is an adjective meaning totality or completeness. It's used to describe all-encompassing concepts and is often translated as "all," "every," "whole," or "entire" in English. In the New Testament, it refers to the comprehensive nature of God's promises. Merriam-Webster defines "always" as "at all times, forever, at any rate, and in any event." I think you get the picture.
For most of us, loving those who love us comes naturally. It's an overflow and extension of the deepest parts of our hearts. They love us, we love them, and the case is closed. But Jesus challenges us to love all people, and that includes those who persecute us or cause us harm. Matthew 5:43-45 says it this way: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" (NIV).
And yet, Jesus doesn't stop here. Jesus tells us that true, radical, and biblical love believes all things, hopes all things, bears all things, and endures all things. Our modern translations write these words as protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres—because it isn't enough to merely say we love. We must love with a love that gives and serves selflessly at all times and to all people.
Does Your Love Persevere?
As I think over the last decade of my life, I realize there have been times when my love has waivered in faithfulness and perseverance. I've grown tired when my spouse is irritable, impatient when my dog won't stop barking, and unkind when unanticipated circumstances change my plans and agenda. I've often forgotten that love under pressure will be like gold in the fire: "In all this, you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed" (1 Peter 1:6-7, NIV).
The Bible defines "endure" or "persevere" as hypomenei, meaning to remain or stay behind when others have departed, to bear up under, endure, and suffer patiently, and to continue firmly, hold out, remain constant, and persevere. It's the same word used by Jesus in Matthew 10:22, and 24:13 regarding clinging to our faith, and James 1:12 when we're told to press on amidst trials and temptations.
What I respect most about this definition is that a love that always perseveres isn't contingent on behavior or circumstances; it loves, period. Biblical love chooses to persevere, to remain or stay behind even when no one else does. And isn't that what Christ Jesus did for us when He died on the cross for our sins? The sins that we were guilty of and should've paid for? Romans 5:8 reminds us of just this: "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (NIV). What a love this is!
Does Your Love Start All Over Again?
The beauty of biblical love and perseverance is that even when we mess up, stumble, and fall, because of Jesus' sacrifice for us, we can choose to start over and love again. If you're struggling to love in a way that always perseveres, might I encourage you that you're in good company to start over and try, try again? You are not alone, and the struggle is real.
As Christians living on a fallen planet, none of us are perfect. Even the best of us who strive to love consistently and perseveringly will have times when our love is challenged, waivered, or fails. But praise the Lord we serve a God whose love for us never changes, breaks down, or refuses to forgive (1 Corinthians 13:8, Psalm 136:1-9, Psalm 136, Malachi 3:6).
One of the simplest ways to live with a love that perseveres is to remember how Christ Jesus has loved us. Despite our sins, flaws, and mess-ups, He calls us His children. While that love isn't an excuse to keep sinning (Galatians 5:13, 1 Peter 2:16), it reminds us that Jesus' love was enough to keep Him on the cross for the punishment of crimes He never committed. If that isn't enough to encourage and motivate me to love others with perseverance and endurance, I don't know what is.
This month, I'd like to challenge you to be honest with yourself and God about your ability to love and persevere. If you struggle, tell God why. Explain these thoughts in a journal or prayer out loud. Then, ask God to help you love with perseverance over time. We're all works in progress, and true biblical love will take time, but by the power of the Holy Spirit within us we can be compelled to live with a love that endures all things for the sake of Jesus—one verse of 1 Corinthians 13 at a time.
"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable" (C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves).
Agape, Amber
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/ Daniel Balakov
