“[Love] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails” (1Corinthians 13:7, 8a).
LOVE:
Bears all things
The word “bears” has the meaning of covering as in a roof – it protects. On one hand it protects against the elements: rain, wind, heat. It protects against the storms of life. It is a covering which protects by giving privacy to those who take shelter beneath it. Vincent’s Word studies says, “It keeps out resentment as the ship keeps out the water, or the roof the rain” (e-sword). Love protects and preserves.
Jesus has called us to love as He has loved. He showed His love when [He] Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed” (1Peter 2:24). In His love toward us, He does not proclaim our struggles from the roof tops. Instead, He bears with us as we find our footing on solid ground and stand firmly on our faith. Not only did He bear it all on the Cross, He bears with us daily as we become more and more like Him.
Who do you need to bear with today? Is it someone under your own roof whom you need to cover instead of expose giving them time to come to the fullness of Christ in them? (No, we’re not talking about abusers here. Abuse needs to be exposed.) However, we are talking about those things we choose to bear in bitterness of judgment. What if, instead, you chose to bear them in forgiveness as a covering until they are set free? Love bears all things.
If you are struggling to bear with certain burdens in your life ask the Lord to help you see the situation from His vantage point. Ask Him to let His love for the person(s) flow through you to them. Ask Him to enlarge your heart in this area and you will have enlarged your territory in the kingdom and in your own spiritual growth.
Believes all things
Love is not gullible, but love is ready and prepared to believe the best of every person, to speak life. I remember when I was lost and working in a medical facility. I worked at a nurse’s station with a Christian nurse who always, without fail, spoke value into my life. She treated me as though I was the person I was created to be though in reality I was far from it. Her faith and valuation of me enabled me to find enough faith and valuation to believe Jesus might accept me, too. Love believes through God’s eyes and heart. “The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy” (James 3:17).
How is your love – life? Are you placing God-value on every person you meet? The guy who tailgated you on the way to work? The homeless person you passed by? The crabby grocery store clerk? The condescending relative? Can we come to a maturity in Christ to realize those whom we most do not want to “believe all things” for are the very ones we most need to “believe all things” for – those who cannot believe yet for themselves? Lord, fill us with this kind of love for others.
Hopes all things
Without hope the rest of this list would be impossible. One must have hope for the future in order to bear with another until they should find fullness of life. One must hope good for another if they want to believe for them. Hope looks not with the eyes or human reason. Hope looks with the eyes of Christ and the promises of God. Hope give us the strength to tarry in faith for another even when all sense and reason cannot give us good reason.
There is a further note in this hope Paul speaks of. This is not a wringing of the hands, hoping against all odds. This is a hope of faith not in how the person is, but in Who Jesus is. This is a hope which knows the promises of God and has confident expectation. “For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance” (Romans 8:24-25).
Endures all things
This verse resonates with me as I read this word, endures, ‘Then He said to them all, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me’” (Luke 9:23). Endurance requires a dying to self. There lies a tension between the flesh and the spirit – the desire to do what is easy and the need to endure to do what is right in God’s sight. Love endures. Love endures hardships, trials of life and trials of enemies; it acquiesces to circumstances without blaming God or lashing out. Love’s enduring is a quiet strength built on knowing our God is a good Father, knowing His promises are sure and they are for us. Love helps us look beyond the circumstance, holding our head high in the midst keeping our gaze upon the horizon know our Helper draws near. Enduring love knows there will be an end to the trial whether on earth or in heaven and it stays the course. “We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other, so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure” (2 Thessalonians 1:3-4).
Never fails
The love of God will never fail you. According to Vincent’s Word Studies, it is a word used in the Greek for an actor who is driven from the stage by the hissing of the crowd. Love cannot be driven away. God’s love remains; it is steadfast and eternal. He calls us to His likeness in Christ Jesus.
We need to understand that hurt people hurt people. Those who need steadfast love the most in our lives might be the very ones who show us unkindness. Love covers the offense and love remains faithful not for what one can receive from the relationship, but for what the other can.
Jesus’ full mission was our redemption. He said, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:20). We are to be on a redemptive mission in the name of Jesus and by the will of God. Who is God putting on your heart today to love as He loves? Will you say yes to Him? Will you say yes for them? Will you let His love which never fails flow though you no matter where He places you?
“And above all things have fervent love for one another,
for ‘love will cover a multitude of sins’” (1Peter 4:8).