Love
is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not
arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked,
does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in
unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures
all things.
(1 Corinthians 13:4-7, NASB)
Love bears all things.
Love—true love—puts up with "all things." Now I’m not saying we’re to be doormats
or allow abuse, but we should be willing to bear our spouses bad mood or our
kids’ testiness. We shouldn’t get angry when our friend forgets a coffee date.
We should instead love them.
Love is a noun and a verb, you know. We have a feeling of love (noun), but we
choose to actively love (verb). I can’t remember where I read it, but the
author wrote how a man came to him and said he didn’t love his wife any more.
“What should I do?” he asked. “Just love her.” Confused, the man said again,
“But I don’t love her.” And again, the reply was, “Just love her.” This went on a couple of more times, and the
man was told to just go and love his wife. And a marriage was restored.
We choose to love—the verb—even when those around us aren’t being very
loveable. That’s why parents can say, “I don’t like what you’ve done, but I
still love you.”
My mom is a prime example of that kind of love. For a very long time, I did so many things that my mom did not like or approve of. But she never stopped loving me. And
today, there may be things my husband does that I don’t like, but I love him. I
choose to love him every day.
Think of how Jesus loves us. I imagine He doesn’t like a lot of what we do, but
He loves us. He loved us enough that “while [we] were still sinners, [He] died
for us” (Rom. 5:8).
That’s what it means to bear all things. All things.
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