Endurance part 1
When I think about some of the things we take for granted it's kind of amazing to me that we DO take them for granted. For instance, 1 Corinthians 13:8 tells us that charity never faileth. In the New Living Translation it is rendered, "love will last forever!" And I actually like that better. Because thinking that love will never fail can get you thinking that love will always get you what you want. But before you can understand WHY love never fails you have to understand HOW love succeeds. And I've written at length about that before. I don't want to rehash it here. What I want to do is talk about what happens when it doesn't seem like love is getting the job done. And, in a nutshell, here it is: When it seems like love isn't getting the job done... endure. Because love lasts forever. Love isn't a sprint. It isn't a big romantic gesture and then everybody lives happily ever after. Love is a marathon. Love is getting knocked down six times and getting up every time. Love is not giving up. And that means not giving up on PEOPLE. Because people are the apple of God's eye. The object of His affection. We were created to be loved, and to love one another. And that doesn't mean loving people only when it's easy, or convenient. I've said many many times that the people that seem unloveable are the ones who need it the most. Because they are the ones who aren't getting it anywhere. It's easy to love your friends, right? But what about loving your enemies? That's perfect--mature--love. Because that kind of love doesn't expect anything in return. That kind of love isn't trying to get anything. That's the kind of love that would cause God to die for us when we were yet sinners. When we'd rather choose Barabas than Jesus. When we were running from Him, He opened His arms on the cross and gathered us to Himself. Drew us INTO Himself. Reconciled us. He showed us a more excellent way, even though it cost Him everything He had and everything He was. He gave it to us. Not because of what He could get in return, but because He wanted us to have it. Because He knew we were worth it. And watch this, "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). We don't always see things happen the way we want them to when we want them to. But that's because God is longsuffering. He is patient. He doesn't care how long the journey takes. He has all the time in the world. All He cares about is that we don't perish, but come to repentance. Which, by the way, is why He gave His only begotten Son. So that we would not perish, but have His eternal, everlasting, abundant, Resurrection Life! Love lasts forever. It's not going anywhere. It's not in a hurry. No matter how long it takes someone to see that... the truth of the matter is that love endures!