Love Never Fails

This is one of the most popular scriptures in the Bible. I think people like it because it makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside.  All or parts of this scripture can be heard in wedding ceremonies, seen in home decor, found all over Pinterest, and even tattooed on some folks.  

Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor other, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. - 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

I hate to be the one that brings this up but love fails all the time.  Just ask nearly half of the people that hear that scripture at their wedding only to end up in divorce.  Ask anyone that has experienced heartbreak for one reason or another and they will certainly tell you that love does in fact fail.  Find anyone that is lonely, depressed, unforgiven, outcast, or oppressed and ask them if love ever fails.  I can speak from past experience of not being able to eat or sleep because love failed.

So what's the problem?  If the Bible says that love never fails and the Beatles say that all you need is love then how does love keep messing up?

Well, it doesn't.  Love doesn't mess up.  We do.  Love can't be right or wrong as it has no ability to make decisions.  Just like Bon Jovi said, "you (and I) give love a bad name."  Love isn't impatient, unkind, envious, boastful, dishonoring, or selfish.  But you and I can be.  Love doesn't get mad easily, keep record of wrongs, or delight in evil.  But you and I can do those things without even thinking about it due to our human nature.  In this case, it would be appropriate to be mad at the messenger because the message of love has never changed.

We need to stop putting the blame on love and start taking responsibility for our actions.  In the paraphrased words of Clint Black, "Love isn't something that we're in or a place that we fall.  Love is something that we do."  You "fell" in love because you put forth effort to pursue your mate.  You "fell" out of love because the newness wore off and you stopped pursuing them and made efforts elsewhere.   Love is simply an innocent bystander.

Well if love is something that we do, then how do we do it?  That is a great question and the answer can be found right there in the scripture.  Scroll back up and read it again.

In an attempt to help husbands, wives, friends, and families better love each other I would like to write a series of posts with some practical ways to display love based on the biblical principles in 1 Corinthians 13.  If you find it helpful, please like it on Facebook, retweet it on Twitter, or share it however you like.

Love never fails...we do!