Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. 1 Corinthians 13:7-8aLove bears all things
To bear something means to hold up, support, remain firm under, to be capable of, to suffer/endure/undergo, to sustain or to carry/hold. All of these meanings are true of God. God promises that He will carry us even to our old age and that He made us and will bear and carry and save us (Isaiah 46:3-4; see also 1 Corinthians 1:8). In fact, Jesus upholds the whole universe by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3). And while He upholds both those who do evil and do good—those who are against Him and those who are for Him—the upholding looks different for each group for “the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous” (Psalm 37:17). Those of us who follow Christ are commanded not to fear because Jesus will strengthen us and help us and uphold us with His “righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10). He is our foundation which can never be shaken (1 Corinthians 3:11; cf. Isaiah 28:16). What’s more is that He bears us up daily. King David said, “Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation” (Psalm 68:19). He is our salvation because He bore our sins in His body so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness (1 Peter 2:24; cf. Isaiah 53:12; Hebrews 9:28; 1 Peter 3:18). The Scriptures tell us that when we bear one another’s burdens, we fulfill the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2).
Love believes all things
To believe is to have confidence in the truth and/or have conviction that something or someone is, has or will be engaged in a given action or situation. Jesus has perfect confidence in the the truth because He is truth (John 14:6) and in the future because He knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10; cf. Isaiah 41:4 & 44:1-5). He is acquainted with all our ways and knows our words even before we speak them (Psalm 139). He works in us, “both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). “The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations” (Psalm 33:11). He predestined us for adoption according to His purpose in which He works all things out according to the counsel of His will (Ephesians 1:11), so God knows those who are His and He saves them and keeps them. He also knows the ways of those who are far from Him and works through them to accomplish His purposes (i.e. Romans 9:17).
Love hopes all things
To hope is to look forward to with desire and reasonable – in God’s case, perfect - confidence. Jesus endured the gruesome death of the cross and all the shame and humiliation that accompanied it because He was looking forward to the joy set before Him (Hebrews 12:2 - see below) – furthering His glory, redeeming the nations and conquering death and the devil. The Lord desires to be with us (believers) who are His bride and knows that it will happen (Revelation 20-23), but He is patiently waiting until all of His people come to know Him (Isaiah 30:18; 1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:8-10). The Apostle John saw it in a vision and said,
“And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, as a bride adorned for her Husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’ And He who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new…Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true…It is done!’” (Revelation 21:2-6a).Love endures all things
Diving into this aspect of Christ and His love was pretty exciting. God endures much for us. He endures with much patience people who are wicked (Romans 9:22). He endured much hostility from sinners as He suffered on our behalf (Hebrews 12:3). Furthermore, He “for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated on the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). Jesus endured because He knew it was necessary for Him to suffer these things in order to enter into His glory (Luke 24:26) and in order to “make many to be accounted righteous” (Isaiah 53:11).
Love never ends
God is an everlasting God (Isaiah 40:28; cf. Psalm 90:2; Isaiah 26:4; Jeremiah 10:10; Revelation 22:13) and He loves with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3; cf. Psalm 103:17; Isaiah 54:8). Love never ends because God never ends. God is Love. We have come full circle. :)
But God shows His love toward us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
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