Endurance

Vol 2 No 26 THEO'S DEVOS 070308

1 Corinthians 13:7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Three more attributes of true love are expressed here. It never gives up, never loses faith and is always hopeful. This, at the bottom line, reveals how we feel about God. Our focus here is the one we love but, behind that is the God we believe in. As in many other aspects of the Christian life, God is in view while we may think that we are looking at something else. Can you trust God? I mean can you really trust God? If you think that life is in your hands, you may have a difficult time trusting. But if you really know that God is in control, really believe that, then life smooths out and the future is less scary.

When it comes to human relationships, the scene is the same. It is God that we trust in not the person. Because we trust Him nothing else can threaten. If we focus on a person we can have serious trouble. Not only would we be trusting in the wrong thing but the mere misplacing that trust can cause the very thing we are worried about. When we read that love never gives up it refers to our trusting in God under any and all situations. Not temporarily but permanently no matter what happens. This is not easy to do. In fact it is supernatural and only comes through the grace of God working in, and through us. There is no way of not giving up without understanding that God is in complete control. If anyone, or anything else is in control then giving up may be the only thing we can do. To move forward in the face of calamity would be foolhardy. Growing in grace and becoming stronger in faith is the secret of the Christian life.

So when we look at these three attributes, what we are really looking at is the same thing from three different perspectives. What is never losing faith if not ever giving up. To never give up means to endure. There are three expressions here. Never giving up is an external that, in time we will see. Never losing faith is an internal attitude that no one will actually see. Enduring all things is a matter of intensity. How much can happen and you never give up? How bad the pain? It doesn't take much for some and it may appear the everyone has a limit but these verses indicate that this may be true from a human vantage point but, from a Godly viewpoint, there is nothing outside the lines. “I can do all things, through Christ” Paul tells us. How many things? All things. No room to wiggle out.

The problem that all of us have when we read these verses is that what we call love may not be love at all. Misplaced commitment, relationships that begin on the wrong values get us to believe that we are 'in love' when that may never have been true. The other problem is that we may never have learned to love and trust God sincerely. We have no foundation to draw on. We are trying to conjure up something from nothing. Just saying we are going to obey doesn't mean that we will be able to pull it off. Many pastors mouth the words of commitment to couples who have no internal strength to draw on. It goes back to what we saw a while ago when we examined the “What would Jesus do?” What good does it do to know what He would do. only to find out that we can't do it. Even Jesus grew as a man. David could face Goliath because he had prior experience that showed him the power of God. Have you had a growing relationship with Him. If not there is no time like now to start. It won't take long. Trust Him in some small way and then do that again. Slowly trust Him for bigger and bigger things. Soon you will know that a secret of the Christian life is that it gets better as you live it right. Live it wrong, do things in your own strength, and it will appear as thought it does not work. You see the saying is true: If you think you can, or you think you can't: you are right. With God all things are possible. Without Him few are.