Love Never Fails

Love Never Fails

It's around 3 A.M. in the morning and the only lights that are open are the incandescent ones that bathe my topsy-turvy room. I can't sleep because just moments ago, as I was replying to a text message that was sent to me a few hours earlier, I experienced God. I remember the saying that went something like, God is in the details." That person knew what he was talking about. God was there. And I realized that God's love never fails. Ever.

A friend texted me 1 Corinthians 3:18 which reads, "Love never fails." I've heard it before and it was one of those truths that I only knew theoretically yet I never really stopped to consider if it was indeed true. I used to look at love as that warm, fuzzy feeling that came over you whenever you would be graced with the presence of someone special. My definition of love before was caged inside the bars of romantic thoughts and gestures. I never really stopped to think about what Paul really meant when he said to the Corinthians, "Love never fails."

As beings who know how powerful a force love is, we have been, at one point of our lives, caught in the whirlwind of emotions that make up "love". For those who have been already in romantic relationships (or even forms of it), we have seen, heard, felt and even experienced how it is to be loved by another. And the joy is simply indescribable. Recall any time when you and your special someone shared a significant moment, a time wherein both of you professed your undying adoration and affection to one another. Recall the birthday that became strangely "more special" than all of your other previous birthdays just because you had "someone special" with you that day. Recall those times and tell me if they were not intoxicating. For those who have yet to feel the intimacy and joy that a relationship can bring, it spurs them on. The thought of being romanced by someone becomes a constant in their lives. Like the slow ticking of a clock in one's room, it is always there, muffled by the noise of deadlines, soap operas and chores. But once you clear away everything. Once a quiet moment slips through our busy lives, that quiet ticking that we once did not hear is magnified a thousand times over.

We wonder with all honesty if someone will ever love us as we are. If there is someone who will actually see all of our imperfections and yet embrace us with all of their heart. We occasionally indulge ourselves with hopeful fantasies and daydreams that that day will soon come. We all think to ourselves that our waiting will stop and our "happily ever after" will soon arrive. For some of us, we know it but there are times that we long for that kind of love now. And for those unfortunate ones who have been scarred by the wounds of love, they know that whenever you court love, you also invite pain.

I now realize that as inhabitants of an imperfect world, we have become frequent witnesses to the failure of earthly love. Too often have we been subject to news that feature breakups and divorces rather than golden anniversaries. And as people of a fallen world, we have all assimilated to this kind of behavior. At times we even celebrate this type of disunity as it is covered by the media without abandon. We have become so callous to the absurdity that this type of love offers that we forget that "Love never fails." Caught between embellishments of the media and the constant put-downs from people who have failed in relationships, that one important truth is muffled in our current society. We have become used to love failing us.

The love around us fails simply because as fallen citizens of Heaven we wield it as inappropriately as a child would wield a sword. We forget that when we love, we can offer strength yet it can also destroy people when it is coupled with jealousy. We focus on the captivating part of love yet we so willingly discard the hard work that needs to be put into it when an argument needs to be settled. Experience tells us that with all honesty, love fails.

We all forget that the reason why love fails is because like an overexcited child who has just received something intricately special, we never really stopped to ask about how to use it in the first place.

As I pondered on the verse "Love never fails." I could not help but wholeheartedly agree. With tears in my eyes, the first time I realized how true it was moments ago I nodded in agreement as I recall the one and only person who made the verse come alive. When I read this verse, I remember Jesus Christ.

Here you have the Lord of the Universe realizing that I have no chance in Heaven that I'll be able to pay for all of my sins and He goes down to earth to feel my pain, to be one with my discouragement, to witness the betrayal that I've felt, to drink from the bitter cup of heartbreak that I once called mine. Jesus endured everything that I could ever endure just so I could one day feel Eden under my feet. He could have given up the first time that whip tore against His flesh. He could have let go of my hand the moment he felt the nail being centered in His palm. Yet He endured everything even up to the point of death. And he never failed. Not once did His love fail me. He waited for me for how many years until I would come back to His open arms. And now, in the early morning He reminds me, "See how much I love you." And then I hear the Father's voice that softly says.

"I did it for you."

It is true that love never fails. Jesus' love never fails. If left in our hands, we imperfectly hold a perfect gift but in Jesus' hands, love never fails. And it never will.

To my Eternal Lover in Heaven, I love you so much! I always will.