1 Corinthians 13
The Way of Love (agape)
7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends.
Once again, the ‘love‘ we proclaim though scripture from this letter of Paul to the church at Corinth is the agape love of God. Christ’s love and perfect earthly example should permeate every kind of love relationship we have with others, including of course, the love of a husband for his wife and a wife for her husband.
You can never love too much.
You can love in the wrong way,
but never too much.
Suppose we take the famous scripture of the ‘love chapter’ and put it into the context of ‘The Four Loves’ described by C.S. Lewis of the four Greek words for love. And let’s take this a step further for a moment and begin with the way the world first thinks when the word love is mentioned:
Eros bears all things, Eros believes all things, Eros hopes all things, Eros endures all things. Eros love never ends.
Is this true?
I can testify by my own divorces that eros love (romantic love) often bears little, believes only at first, hopes less and less and indeed Eros love does end. This, of course, is why our vows before God are so important to our Christian marriages.
The same could be said of friendship love or affectionate love. Friendships certainly end and so all-too-often does the affectionate love of a parent for a child or child for parent. These tragic endings fill counseling offices and psychiatrist couches.
Love frequently does end; the other loves fail.
Therefore I caution us that we can indeed love in the wrong way. We often do not, as sinful and unfaithful human souls, look at love from the perspective of God.
We think that we have only so much love we can give – only so much friendship we can give – only so much love for one child or for our mom or for our dad to give – only so much we can endure and hope and believe for the love of our life, the wife or husband of our vows. After all, ‘we are only human.’ We are limited in the flesh; we are limited in our love for one another.
All this would be true, except for the one love for which we were created by God – agape love, which permeates our very being and relationships to every other.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your strength and all your mind. (Sound familiar?)
Other loves only become timeless in the overflowing love of Jesus Christ when the deep well of God’s love pours forth from our sinful hearts into the love-starved souls of others.
We are made for Him and we are made for each other. We are created to love each and all; but only in the right way and with the love of God pouring from us.
When we are empty, God will give us more.
When we have given all, God will give us more.
When we cannot bear this soul, God will give us more.
When we can no longer believe, God will give us more.
When we have lost all hope, God will give us more.
When we cannot endure, God will give us more.
When we think our Eros romance
or our Philia friendship
or our Storge affection
will end;
God will give us more.
For Agape love is not only unconditional,
the Agape love of God is eternal.
Agape love never ends.
The King James English actually encourages us in God by assuring:
Charity never faileth.
And the NASB & other versions translate agape: Love never fails.
Yes, Paul points out that other signs of God working in the lives of the church may fail at times. (We are just a gathering of His imperfect sinners.)
God gives us His gifts to use in His way in our mortal time.
Pour forth the unfailing love of Christ Jesus. Embrace every soul in His love.
(Love one another, as I have loved you, our Lord commands.)
The love of the church may be evident through varying gifts to different saints (Christians) as different times. Yet Love never fails. God’s own love and charity towards us never fails His purpose.
It is appropriate reminder to us as I conclude this 7-part series on My Love, to remind us of the love of God for me, a sinner, and for you.
God has not failed us.
The Cross of Christ Jesus never fails.
We are saved by the grace of the sacrifice of our Lord, Christ Jesus.
As we near the end of these last days I appeal once more to your faithfulness to the Lord Who IS faithful to those who love Him. Be faithful to God in every kind of love God so richly gives to you from the deep spring of His eternal love.
Have you failed in your love? Have you failed God? Have you failed your beloved to whom you are wed? Have you failed a friend? Have you failed a parent or a child who needs your unconditional love?
ekpiptō – to fall out of, to fall down from, to fall off; to fall from a thing, to lose it; to perish, to fall: from a place from which one cannot keep, from a position, to fall powerless, to fall to the ground, be without effect of the divine promise of salvation
In Christ Jesus, we have God’s unfailing love. By grace we cannot fall. God’s love never fails.
Peter reminds the faithful of the importance of us not failing Christ Jesus, if indeed He IS our LORD.
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. 11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?
17 You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand,
beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked;
18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
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