Day 39
Love endures
Love never fails. —1 Corinthians 13:8
When storms arise and conditions worsen, love chooses to endure through even the toughest issues. Though threatened, it keeps pursuing. Though challenged, it keeps moving forward. Though mistreated and rejected, it refuses to give up.
“Love never fails.”
Many times when a marriage is in crisis, the spouse who is trying to make things work will go to the other, declaring in plain terms that no matter what has happened in the past, they are committed to this marriage. Their love can be counted on to last. They promise. But the other spouse, not wanting to hear it yet, holds their position. They still want out. They don’t see this marriage lasting long-term. Nor do they even want it to last anymore.
The partner who has just laid his or her heart on the line, extending the olive branch, can’t handle the rejection. So they withdraw their statement. “Fine. If that’s the way you want it, that’s the way it’ll be.”
But if love is really love, it doesn’t waffle when it’s not received the way you want. If love can be told to quit loving, then it’s not really love. Love that is from God is unending, unstoppable. If the object of its affection doesn’t choose to receive it, love keeps giving anyway.
Love never fails.
Never.
That’s what Jesus’ love is like. His disciples were nothing if not unpredictable. After their final Passover meal together, when Jesus told them they would all forsake Him before the night was over, Peter declared, “Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away. . . . Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You” (Matthew 26:33, 35). All the other disciples echoed the very same promise.
But later that night, Jesus’ inner circle of followers—Peter, James, and John—would sleep through Christ’s agony in the garden instead of supporting Him. Peter would later deny Him three times in the courtyard. Jesus’ men had failed Him within hours of their sworn promises. Yet He never stopped loving them, and He came back to restore them . . . because He and His love are “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
When you have done everything within your power to obey God, your spouse may still forsake you and walk away—just as Jesus’ followers did to Him. But if your marriage fails, if your spouse walks away, let it not be because you gave up or stopped loving them. Love never fails.
Paul endured beatings, intense persecution, and hardship throughout his life. He did it for one reason alone: because “Christ’s love” compelled him (2 Corinthians 5:14). But how?
Of the nine “fruits of the Spirit” listed in Galatians 5, the first of all is love. And because the unchanging Holy Spirit is its source—the same Spirit who dwelled in Paul and in the heart of all believers—the love He creates in us is unchanging as well. No challenge or circumstance can put an expiration date on it. The love of God is anchored in the will of God, the calling of God, and the Word of God—all unchanging things. The Bible declares them “irrevocable” (Romans 11:29). “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away” (Luke 21:33).
The reason you were challenged a few days ago to build your marriage on the Word of God is because when all else fails, the truth of God will stand. Since each quality of love outlined in this book is based on the love of God, expressed in the unchanging Word of God, then your love, as a believer, bears the same, unchanging characteristics. It “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7). Love never fails.
When a marriage crumbles, couples often blame the failure of their relationship on “irreconcilable differences.” But genuine love is a master at reconciliation. When love takes over, it compels us to humbly apologize and take full responsibility for our failures, then to fully forgive where our spouse has failed us. Over and over again. Resilient marriages are built on honesty, respect, commitment, forgiveness, and endurance. And love constantly inspires all of these things to grow and thrive within us.
So today, your dare is to put your unfailing love into the most powerful, personal words you can. This is your chance to declare in print that no matter what imperfections exist—both in you and in your spouse—your love is greater still. No matter what they’ve done or how often they’ve done it, you choose to love them anyway. Though you’ve been far from steady yourself in the way you’ve treated them and your marriage over the years, your days of being inconsistent in love are finished. You accept this one man or woman as God’s special gift to you, and you promise to love them until death.
You’re saying to your spouse, “Regardless of what has happened to us in the past, regardless of our many mistakes, and regardless of your feelings toward me—I choose to love you anyway. Now and forever.”
Because love never fails.
TODAY'S DARE
Spend time in personal prayer, then write a letter of commitment and resolve to your spouse. Include why you are committing to this marriage until death, and that you have purposed to love them no matter what. Leave it in a place that your mate will find it.
____ Check here when you’ve completed today’s dare.
What were some of the hesitations you had in writing this letter? How do you expect your spouse to respond to it? How did God help you in writing it, and what did the process teach you about yourself?
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