Love does not give up

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NLT)

4 Love does not give up. Love is kind. Love is not jealous. Love does not put itself up as being important. Love has no pride. 5 Love does not do the wrong thing. Love never thinks of itself. Love does not get angry. Love does not remember the suffering that comes from being hurt by someone. 6 Love is not happy with sin. Love is happy with the truth. 7 Love takes everything that comes without giving up. Love believes all things. Love hopes for all things. Love keeps on in all things.

The apostle expresses that he could do acts of charity, but without love there is no meaning behind his work. So in there verses he provides a description of what love should look like.

Apologist, author, and speaker Josh McDowell writes:

Tolerance says, "You must approve of what I do." Love responds, "I must do something harder: I will love you, even when your behavior offends me."

Tolerance says, "You must agree with me." Love responds, "I must do something harder: I will tell you the truth, because I am convinced 'the truth will set you free.'"

Tolerance says, "You must allow me to have my way." Love responds, "I must do something harder: I will plead with you to follow the right way, because I believe you are worth the risk."

Tolerance seeks to be inoffensive; love takes risks. Tolerance glorifies division; love seeks unity. Tolerance costs nothing; love costs everything.

Two items the apostle points out shows the tenacity of love. He says, Love does not give up; and Love keeps on in all things. Think of the life of Christ. Even with all the harsh comments made by religious leaders, Christ kept going and never stopped loving people. In the face of death Christ did not give up, but instead surrendered Himself to the will of God and gave His life out of love for us.

Over the years I have seen families divide over their own pride. Often it was because someone felt wronged and neither side wanted to release their pride to give in. Marriages have broken up because one or both of the spouses were only thinking of themselves. One would get angry over what the other was doing and could not let go of that anger.

It is easier to tolerate something than to love something; but over time tolerance grows old and starts to break down. There gets to be a point where people give up and stop trying. Instead of tolerating people around you, let us all try to learn to love the people around us. We still keep safe boundaries to protect ourselves, but we can still love in the right an appropriate ways even with boundaries.