God's Unfailing Love

Love suffers long [and] is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a, NKJV)

Love never fails.

Throughout this passage, the Greek word used for love is agape. This word is used to describe God’s unconditional love for us. This love is strong and active. “Fails” comes from a word that means to fall in the sense of fall from power or position. Fail means to be without effect, to perish. “Never” means never: not ever, not at all, to no extent or degree; I think this may be the most important word in this sentence.

God’s unconditional, powerful, and effective love will never, ever fail in any way.

Meditating on all I’ve learned about God’s love over the last several weeks brings so much gratitude. But there’s also an exhortation. This is how we are to love others. Jesus said, "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12 NKJV)

This can be a hard commandment to obey. I’ve known people who are hard to love. Some have hurt me. Some have rejected me. Some just always seem to find fault with my efforts to love them. I’m sure you’ve had people like this in your life at some point.

But it really doesn’t matter how hard I find it to love somebody. If I want to obey my Lord Jesus, I will keep loving that person no matter how he or she responds. When I think of how Jesus loved me, giving up everything for me, it makes it easier to love others.

And when I feel like I just can’t anymore, I can ask the Holy Spirit to change my heart and to love others through me. With His help, I can persevere.

That brings me back to our thought for today. While I may have times of failure in loving others, God’s love will never, ever fail. Praise God, He never fails!

Think About:

• How will you love someone who’s difficult to love today?

• Which characteristic of God’s love from 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a has most challenged you? Encouraged you?