Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 ESV
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Bearing is to hold up or support, so when you are bearing all things in a relationship, you are supporting it through anything. There is nothing that can weaken the foundation of your relationships because we are called to love as Christ loves us. We put up with anything rather than hinder the work of Christ. The mark of a truly loving person is someone who will not wince or falter under pressure, but will lean in to brace the relationship when sufferings and afflictions hit. The enemy seeks to destroy and divide. He will sneak into your marriage and quietly cause division. But a person who loves like Christ loves—they stand at the ready, unwavering in their commitment to the relationship despite the attacks.
Believing all things isn’t referring to believing in the other person, but rather believing in the truths of scripture. Many believing Christians only subscribe and apply the truths that are comfortable and easy, but they avoid those truths that are challenging. For example, we are called to humble ourselves more than just about anything in scripture, and as women, we are called to submit to our husbands. These are hard truths to hold as we live in one of the most arrogant cultures in the world, in an era where women’s rights are rising. Believing all things takes the hard truths of scripture and works to apply them to our marriages. We are told to forgive, so we work hard on letting things go; we are told to store His Word in our hearts, so we spend time in scripture daily; we are told to love as He loves, so we work hard to offer mercy and grace to our spouses as He offers it to us.
Love hopes all things. Hoping is looking to the future with a confident expectation that God is sovereign, and He is working all things for the good of those who love Him. No matter the state of your relationship right now, hoping all things believes God will redeem and restore the brokenness in your life because that’s what He promises. Regardless of what you face, hoping trusts that God is at work IN that relationship. Hoping knows that God never calls a relationship to end, but rather uses those difficult relationships to refine and grow you as a believer.
Love endures all things. Enduring love is steadfast, faithful, and it perseveres through the struggles. Love doesn’t give up because it’s hard, or because what it sees seems impossible to overcome. Love not only takes the punches and keeps going, love goes after the other person when they don’t seem to want to love. Endures all things doesn’t leave anything out. In other words, there is nothing that God says is too much to take on a relationship—that “all” is pretty final. Love endures ALL things.
God wants our marriages to continue. The enemy wants to destroy them. God reminds us here that we are going to have to put up with attempts at division, but through it all, we are to keep leaning in and loving—even and especially when it’s hard.
Press on ~ you are loved 💗
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