A Love That Works

Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

1 Corinthians 13:7

WHEN A MAN FIRST GETS MARRIED, he usually describes it as something that has happened to him. And of course there is something powerful about romantic attraction, discovered compatibility, and linking your life to another person’s. But there is a next level of love, a kind of love that endures and forms the basis of a lifelong, joyful union. This kind of love does not come in the form of a passive noun—something that happens to us. Instead, real, lasting, biblical love is more like a verb—something we choose to do.

Listen to the language of Paul’s famous discourse on love in 1 Corinthians 13, particularly verse 7. You will notice how love is not a state of fuzzy romantic feelings but is a series of actions. It never gives up, never loses faith, never loses hope. In other words, you cannot achieve a strong and powerful and unbreakable love if you do not actively pursue it. As the husband, at times you must bear the unbearable. You must believe the unbelievable. You must hope even when life seems hopeless.

Active, pursuing love is not generated simply by goodwill. Our willpower is quite limited. Rather, our ability to love must be fueled by the love we’ve been shown by God in Christ. We endure, believe, and hope because God’s love toward us is not passive, but active on our behalf. We love out of the abundance of love we have received from God.

BOTTOM LINE

Love is not something we simply experience; it’s also something we share as we receive God’s love moment by moment.

Moment of Strength: 1 Corinthians 13