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For many of us, love is a raw deal.
We’ve only seen glimpses of it through battered relationships – husbands with wandering eyes and feet, parents with hard and driven hearts, and lovers with selfish hands that pull us in and then push us away.
So, our desperate search for love is often peppered with the suspicion that love is a myth. A ruse. A trick.
But Christ’s love isn’t given as a wayward husband, driven parents, or a selfish lover.
God’s love never fails
“Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.” 1 Cor. 13:8
Paul begins his “love chapter” in 1 Cor. 13 by telling us that our works mean nothing without love (vs. 1-3).
Conversely, Christ’s work of love means everything (vs. 4-7).
And then in vs. 8-10, he tells us about the extent of Christ’s love for us.
God loves us like he loves His Son
Paul says that Christ’s love is the only thing is our lives that is real, is permanent, is truthworthy.
How do we know that?
Because God loves us the way the He loves his own Son. God’s love never fails because His love for His Son never fails.
In her book, Because He Loves Me: How Christ Transforms Our Daily Life
God’s love makes us whole
“For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.” 1 Cor. 13:9-10
God’s love never fails – and that’s really great news. But that’s not all we need to know. Paul says that God’s love toward us demonstrated through His Son also makes us whole.
Right now, we only have a partial view of Christ’s love. We’re looking at it through eyes that are still shaded by sin.
God in his graciousness gave us tongues and prophecies and knowledge so that we might get a glorious glimpse of what he has waiting for us. But one day, we won’t need those things anymore.
Why? Because Christ will come again to perfectly and permanently restore us to himself.
The hope of the gospel is this: Christ’s love, which was spilled out for us on the cross, will one day perfect us entirely. Christ’s love never fails and it never forgets.
The Corinthian church had forgotten about this gospel love. Instead, they chose to trust in a different love – self love. They trusted in the work of their own hands to bring them gain, worth, value (1 Cor. 13:1-3).
And they had no hope for the future.
Only Christ’s love can make us whole. He’s promised to do so (2 Cor. 5:1-10). And His promises never fail.
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Beautiful! It’s amazing to think that God loves us as much as he loves Christ. Even more amazing that it’s true! Good stuff to rest my heart in today.