I ask with a bit of hesitation in my voice, “But what do I do?” I’m in a new situation and longing for someone to tell me how to get it right. To give me turn-by-turn directions, a map and a compass. To show me how to keep from messing up.
My friend shrugs her shoulders and simply replies with a smile, “Just live with love.”
Her words echo in my mind and heart for days. And as I sit down with my art journal I turn to 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter. I write down all the descriptions of what love means–patience, kindness, endurance. Then I get to the last line, “Love never fails.”
It’s that one line in this well-known chapter that has always thrown me off a bit. I understand the rest of it but love never fails? Really?
So I look the verse up in other translations, hoping for clearer words. But it’s the same everywhere: Love never fails.
It’s then I realize I’ve been reading this through my perspective rather than God’s. I thought “Love never fails” meant loving would never be messy or broken or hard. But I’ve come to see“Love never fails” means this instead…
Choosing love is always a success in God’s eyes–no matter the outcome or response.
Love not an emotion. It’s a series of actions {1 Corinthians 13}. That means we can choose it even when we don’t feel it. If that seems overwhelming, take heart in this: God is love and he lives in you. He can show you what to do. He understands what every person needs. He has the words you’re searching to say. He will help you make the simplest, hardest choice today…
Just live with love.
XOXO
p.s. Whenever I write about choosing love I always want to be clear that it doesn’t mean tolerating evil behavior such as abuse. Love actually means stopping those destructive patterns. If “love” is hurting you or someone in your life in any way then please talk with a professional counselor and get help.
