Many of us are familiar with I Corinthians 13. It is perhaps the most beautiful and poetic
chapter of the New Testament. It calls
us to a profound and wonderful place beyond action and beyond motive. It calls us to something that is humanly
impossible. It unfolds the mystery of
God to us and opens up doors beyond comprehension.
In the middle of this chapter is an inflection point
turning on the very meaning or definition of love – love never fails. Everything to this point is a description of
love, what love does or how love responds. Love is not arrogant, or resentful,
or selfish. Love rejoices with the
truth. Love bears all things, believes
all things, hopes all things, endures all things. And then…
Love never fails.
This three word phrase does not describe love, it defines
love. This three word phrase became the basis of understanding God for me, not
really understanding God exactly, but understanding this aspect of how God
relates to me. We are called to love,
even to love those who revile us or want nothing to do with us. And when someone you deeply care about turns
away from you, you are left with two choices – to abandon that person in your
heart or to continue loving them with all good-will and compassion. At the lowest point of defeat and despair in
my life, this word came to me… “love never fails”. Go on loving and you can not fail. Everything may crumble, this person may never
speak to you again, your world may come apart at the seams, but if you persist
in love toward that person deep in your heart, you will not fail.
And it all seemed so simple, like a huge burden lifted from my chest, staring up at the ceiling in the dark cold of winter.
But that was not all.
In fact that was only the beginning.
Because in that moment, God revealed to me that He loves me
this way. That nothing I can ever do
will overcome His love. His love never
fails, it never ends. I can turn away
from Him, revile and want nothing to do with Him, I can ignore Him. Nothing will change Him. He will continue to love me. He will continue
to patiently long for me to return. He
will receive me again with joy at the first moment of my responding to His
kindness. He will weep over my pride and
pointless wandering. And I suddenly and
for the first time had no fear of losing His love. I realized for the first time the
impossibility of God not loving me. It
changed me profoundly and permanently.
There is now no place I would rather be than with God. Understanding that He will love me as a
father loves his children, understanding the nature of unconditional love,
draws me to Him. And all of life and
death, joy and suffering, everything has meaning and beauty in Him.
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A man should have the good fortune to spend one day of his life in the company of a woman like Carrie.
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Sunday morning I woke early and sat next to Carrie’s hospital
bed. She had just spent two nights
struggling through painful back spasms that kept her largely immobile. She was lying in bed wondering what it meant
to have a cancerous tumor in her spine. She asked me to pray. We held hands and I prayed. When I was finished, Carrie prayed. The high point of her prayer was unique. She lifted up the hospital
staff, all the people coming and going from her room. She remembered that each of them is dealing
with troubles and challenges and she asked God to bless them in some way on
this particular Sunday.
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