[Pope##s Article of 19 July, 2009] (463) by Dr. Wedad Abbas]
Love never fails
(1 Cor 13 : 8)
Love may fail in case of conflict of interests or competition, but love which does not seek its own will never fail. It may also fail if one is provoked, behaves rudely, or thinks evil against someone else, because all this is against the characteristics of love as identified by the apostle (1 Cor 13). True love also is described in the Song by the words:
“Love is as strong as death … many waters cannot quench love, nor can the floods drown it.” (Song 8: 6, 7)
Love is like flames of fire which many waters cannot quench, that is, no offences, no remissness, no negligence, no hindrances can quench love. No external causes can shake it, so long as it is strong and firm like a house built on the rock.
This concept applies to love between God and man, and love among people.
See how deep was the Lord##s love for Peter who denied Him with an oath and cursed saying, “I do not know the Man” (Mt 26: 69- 74)! His love did not change, and after the resurrection He confirmed his apostleship, saying to him, “Feed My sheep … Tend my lambs” (Jn 21). The Lord did the same to the other disciples who were afraid, who doubted, and who fled.
The Lord##s love did not change towards those who crucified Him, but He said to the Father, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” (Lk 23: 34) And He gave the centurion who watched over His crucifixion the gift of faith, so the latter glorified God, saying, “Certainly this was a righteous Man!” (Lk 23: 47) “Truly this was the Son of God!” (Mt 27: 54) He loved and attracted to faith many of the priests who caused Him to be crucified (Acts 6: 7).
A prominent example of love that does not fail is God##s love for the apostates and sinners, accepting their repentance.
Although they denied Him and rejected Him, they did not lose His love. He accepted them once more, saying, “Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? And not that he should turn from his ways and live?” (Ez 18: 23) In His love He accepted many sinners and opened for them a door for repentance, making of hem saints and giving them crowns.
God##s love never failed towards Saul of Tarsus though at the beginning of his life he persecuted the church fiercely as he said about himself, “I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man.” (1 Tim 1: 13)
God##s love led him to repentance, and God made him an apostle and gave him gifts. Grace worked in him more than all the others (1 Cor 15: 1).
God##s love that does not fail extended even to the atheist communists.
God##s love endured their atheism and denial for over seventy years and led them afterwards to confession of faith. God also loved the barren nations that had no faith and made them enlarge the place of their tents, giving the barren more children than those of the married woman, i.e. the church of the circumcised (Isa 54: 1- 3).
God##s love did not forsake those who worshiped the golden calf.
It is true that God chastened them, for He chastens and corrects whom He loves (Heb 12: 6; Prov 3: 12), but His love did not forsake them. He sent them the prophets to lead them to repentance, and He sent them John the son of Zacharias to make them ready as a prepared people through the baptism of repentance. They became the first fruit of the tree of faith which extended east and west. Indeed, how great is God##s heart in His love that never fails. He forgives people in spite of their faults, and gives them a live example of the commandment, “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you.” (Mt 5: 44)
See how the Lord God dealt with Jonah when Jonah fled from His presence.
In spite of Jonah##s disobedience and fleeing in a ship going to Tarshish, the Lord did not forsake him but prepared a great fish to swallow him. There in the belly of the fish the Lord responded to his prayer and the fish vomited him onto the dry land to preach to Nineveh the message of the Lord to lead them to repentance. Nor did God##s love forsake Jonah when Jonah got angry when the repentance of that city was accepted by God, but rather dealt with him gently till he was convinced, saying to him, “Is it right for you to be angry?” (Jon 4)
Another example of love that does not fail is found in the Parable of the Lost Son.
The father##s love for his son did not fail although the son received his inheritance while the father was alive, left home, and went to a far country where he wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But in spite of that the father received him joyfully, put on him the best robe, and killed the fatted calf that all might eat and be merry (Lk 15).
Natural love is a good example of love that does not fail.
The mother##s love never fails towards her children in spite of the faults they may fall in. The father##s love can be represented in the love of David for his son Absalom. Although Absalom rebelled against his father, led an army to take his kingdom, entered into his palace and offended his concubines. That was an abnormal attitude contrary to natural love. However, in spite of all this David wept bitterly when he died! (2 Sam 15 18)
True love never fails, however hard the hindrances and hardships may be.
Abraham##s love for God never failed even when God wanted him to offer his only beloved son Isaac as a burnt sacrifice (Gen 22: 2). His love for God was deeper than his love for his son. John##s love for Christ likewise continued without doubt even after seeing the Lord hung on the cross and bleeding and ridiculed!
Another example is the love of Joseph of Arimathea who was not afraid to ask for the Lord##s body from Pilate (Lk 23: 52).
He did not care what danger he might be exposed to for declaring his belonging to Christ. He even gave his own new tomb to bury Him in it, wrapped Him for burial and prepared Him with spices and fragrant oils. He was not afraid to be accused of being His disciple, while Peter feared! Nicodemus, a member of the Synagogue, had such love that does not fail and took part in preparing Christ for burial not fearing to be judged by the Synagogue which sentenced the Lord Christ to death.
This reminds us of the martyrs love for the Lord in spite of the torment they faced.
They overcame all hardships, temptations, imprisonment, stripes, torments, insults, and casting into fierce hungry animals, and other unbearable sufferings. Daniel in the lions## den and the three young men in the furnace of fire are good examples of this type of love that never fails.
We cannot forget the love of Julius the Akfahsi who wrote the biographies of saints.
He took care of the bodies of the martyrs and buried them and wrote their biographies, at a time when the confession of faith exposed people to imprisonment, torments and death. But such a danger did not do away with that saint##s love for the Lord and His children the martyrs, until he himself received the crown of martyrdom.
Enduring trials is an aspect of love that does not fail. We have Job the Righteous as an example. His love never shook in spite of losing his sons and daughters, all his possessions, his health, his position, and the respect of his friends. In every case he said, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” And when his wife blamed him, he said, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” Therefore the Lord removed away the trial and reprimanded his friends, saying, “You have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.” (Job 1: 21; 2: 10; 42: 7)
The story of Joseph the Righteous shows how his love for God did not fail in spite of all that he had faced.
For the sake of his faithfulness to God he rejected sin, saying, “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Gen 39: 9) He endured bad fame and imprisonment for many years although he was faithful to God and people, and never grumbled. So God rewarded him at the end in such a way he never expected. His love for his brothers also did not fail in spite of all the evil they had done to him. He rather cared for them in the days of famine, comforted them and did not take revenge but rather wept when introducing himself to them (Gen 45: 2)!
Forgiveness for the transgressors is an aspect of love that does not fail.
When Peter asked the Lord how often one should forgive one##s brother, whether for seven times, the Lord said to him, “up to seventy times seven.” (Mt 18: 21, 22) It is the great heart that endures!
God may examine us whether our love fails or not.
God may therefore permit it that we get exposed to hardships sometimes to see how far we love Him! I remember here that holy mother who endured in the days of martyrdom to have her children slaughtered in her lap while she kept encouraging and strengthening them to endure death. She did not say ##Why, O Lord, did You permit that I undergo such a trial that no mother can bear?” I put this story before those who when facing a small trial soon grumble and may even blaspheme against God, threatening not to go to church!
It is to be regretted if our love fails before the narrow gate and the hard way! Our love for God may be tested with tribulations, and our love for people may be tested with our endurance and bearing with them their way of dealing or offences. This will reveal whether our love is true and firm or not. Paul the Apostle says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? … Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” (Rom 8: 35, 37)
And what about our love for each other: can a certain behavior separate the engaged or the married couple? Can a certain behavior lead the married couple to courts and divorce and love that continued for years fail?! Can friends lose their old love and remember only the present offence?
Would that we be firm in such true love that never fails! Suffice these contemplations on (1 Cor: 13), but the topic of love will continue – God willing.