Love never fails

It can be difficult to believe in a love that never fails when we live in a world where so often it does. We see the failure of love every day in our news, may well see it regularly in our own lives, or the lives of those we know. We can see the distortion and abuse of love when it is used as an excuse for control or power; we can see the limitation of love when it used as a reason to back ‘my group’ over ‘that other group’ – whatever those groups might be. We know that love never fails; it says so in the bible, in 1 Corinthians 13, in that passage so often quoted as the ‘hymn of love’. It has to be true … but is it? Do we really believe in that love? Or do we believe in it in the same way we might ‘believe’ in the kind of love we might read about in a novel? What does it mean to live in this fallen world, while believing in a love that never fails? What does it mean to really and truly believe in a love that never fails? What effect might that have on our lives?

I wonder how many of us pay lip service to the God of love, the God whose love never fails, while never really acknowledging that we do not actually believe in it? It’s a kind of heresy to say that we don’t believe in a God of love; and, of course, we do. It’s at the core of the Christian message. But, at the same time, it is also possible to not believe; not truly, not whole-heartedly, not at the depths of our being. There can be many good reasons for this, including what we may have been taught about love by those close to us. It is not something to feel guilty about; the God of love, who knows our hearts, will willingly gently lead us on. It’s possible we can never truly know the astounding wholeness of the love of God within this present life. Yet, it must be possible to know it more, to travel deeper and deeper into those loving arms. But are we able? Are we willing? Do we even know that the journey is necessary? Primarily, what prevents us?

What prevents us? Many, many things, almost as many as there are people. It will be different and unique for each individual. Yet there may be some themes in common. Are we hiding from God, from that love which never fails? Why would we? Well, why not? The implications of that love could be truly painful, could involve changes, might mean reordering our life, or our view of ourselves. To come before God in sorrow for what we have done wrong is Christian practice; yet, at the same time, we can remain hidden from God, and even from ourselves. We can hide who we think we truly are, we can hide our more negative attributes (which may or may not be actually negative). It can be a fearful thing to expose ourselves totally before God, even as we know that God is already aware of all that we hide. It can be even more painful if we are hiding from ourselves as well.

What do we truly think of ourselves? What is our self-image, and how accurate is it? We do not need to correct that image before acknowledging or knowing God’s love, but if we think of ourselves negatively then we may well want to hide that from God, as well as ourselves. It might be that the work needed to keep ourselves living daily, to keep our negative image hidden from ourselves also prevents us from truly acknowledging the love of God. If we think we are a horrible person, if we are stupid, or ugly or whatever other negative words we use about ourselves, then God cannot truly love us … except that is wrong. God does truly love us. Totally, utterly, to the depths of our being. Even if we are truly stupid or horrible or whatever, God still loves us. It might take a bit longer, and some inner work, before we can see that; it might not be something we can ever truly accept, in this life; it might be something we cannot see, for we need our coping strategies in place in order to live our daily lives. That’s all okay, it truly is. God knows that, and loves you anyway. God will bring you to that place of utterly knowing that you are loved, that God is love which never fails, in time, when you are ready – in this life or after death.

Love never fails; whether we believe it or not, that is fact. Love never fails, God never fails. However horrible or bad or stupid we are, or think we are; however horrible or bad or stupid our lives are: God’s love never fails. It may well seem like it at times; we may think that God has abandoned us; but in actual fact God will still be there for us. Can we hold onto that fact, live it somehow in each minute of our daily lives? It is only in the present moment that we can know the love that never fails. We cannot store it up for the future, we do not need to; God’s love is there for us in entirety at every moment of our lives. Love never fails: whatever the failures of love in our world, however successfully we hide from God and/or ourselves, whether we believe ourselves worthy of that love or not, love never fails. We are none of us worthy; all of us have failed in love; yet the love of God in Jesus Christ has not and will not ever fail us. Can you begin to believe that?