Everything in life, contrary to Madison Avenue guarantees, can’t be cured or resolved or eliminated. Some things must simply be endured. Some things must simply be borne. Some things must simply be accepted. ~Joan Chittister
Love endures all things. Really? I think I’ll skip to the next verse. My ideal of love involves preventing all pain, not providing the strength to bear it.
Then I look up 1 Corinthians 13:7 in the original Greek and see a glimmer of light. Translated literally, it reads like this: Love
- all things bears
- all things believes
- all things hopes
- all things endures
As opposed to: Some things, love may endure. Several things, it will put up with for a while. A few things, love will stick around until the end for, if a the ending is guaranteed.
I can’t deny the difference. My feeble, ineffective human version, versus the unmovable love of God. Twenty-six times Psalm 136 repeats this truth, a steady cadence to count on: His love endures forever. His love endures forever. His love endures forever.
The love of God endures all things so we can become his durable ones, who hold on for the duration, even under great duress, and so reveal his enduring character in this fickle and faltering world.
Love Endures All Things
The winds of March are often cruel and blustery. And yet they typify the stormy seasons of my life. Indeed, I should be glad to have the opportunity to come to know these seasons.
It is better for the rains to descend and the floods to come than to always live in the legendary land of Lotus or the lush Valley of Avalon, where the sun always shines and strong winds never blow.
The storms of temptation may appear cruel, but don’t they lead to a greater intensity and earnestness in my prayer life? Don’t they compel me to cling to God’s promises with a tighter grasp? And don’t they leave me with character that is more refined?
The storms of sorrow through bereavement are intense, but they are one of the Father’s ways of driving me to Himself. His purpose is to softly and tenderly speak to my heart in the secret, hidden places of His presence. There is a certain glory of the Master that can only be seen when the wind is contrary and my ship is being tossed by the waves.
Jesus is not my security against the storms of life, but He is my perfect security in the storms. He has never promised me an easy passage, only a safe landing.
~L.B. Cowman from Streams in the Desert, ed. James Reimann
What does love that endures look like in your life?
This is post thirteen of our Lent To Love: A Return to the Source series on 1 Corinthians 13. Join us on the journey to Easter!
