"People have fallen into a foolish habit of speaking of orthodoxy as something heavy, humdrum, and safe. There never was anything so perilous or so exciting as orthodoxy."

- G.K. Chesterton
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Love is Never a Waste
Posted by Jared @ 9:01 am CDT
Filed under: Devotionals

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
-- Galatians 6:9

We likely all recall the time Peter came up to Jesus and basically asked, “When I can I stop forgiving someone who keeps wronging me? After seven times?”
(I can almost hear him hoping, “Please tell me after seven times.”)
But Jesus responds to him, saying “No, not seven times. Seventy times seven times.”

For those of you doing the math, that comes to 490. The bad news (or good news, depending on which side of the forgiving you’re on :-) is that this is a symbolic number that basically means “forever.”
Jesus was saying to Peter, “No, you don’t give someone seven strikes. You just keep forgiving them . . . forever.”

Now, Jesus is a smart guy. In fact, if we believe he is who he said he was, we know he has all the omniscience of the God of the Universe. So he knows this is a tall order. He knows it doesn’t “make sense” in our world of abuse and betrayal and pettiness and vindictiveness and pride and arrogance and egotism.

So why does he do this? If he knows our capacity for love and forgiveness is finite, how can he call us to persevere in these things toward others? The short answer, I think, is because God Himself perseveres in them toward us.
Jesus goes on to tell Peter a story about a servant who was forgiven a huge debt by his master. The servant goes on then to punish a third party who owes the servant much less. When the master finds out, he has the debt-pardoned servant thrown in jail and tortured. And Jesus says – this is the scary part – that’s what will happen to us if, spurning the grace given us by God, we withhold grace from others.

Because God’s love toward us is a) despite sin worthy of eternal punishment, and b) relentlessly patient in its eternal perseverance, we have no Christian right to say to someone who has wronged us, even if they continue to wrong us, “You have reached your limit with me. My love for you stops now.” Doing so fails to truly see the depths of our sin in the light of God’s holiness. And if God, who is perfect and holy, will forgive and love we who are most certainly not, on what basis do we have to be unforgiving and unloving to others?

I am guessing most of us agree with this in theory. There’s not too many Christians who will say, despite Jesus’ instructions, that it’s okay to hate your enemies and curse those who persecute you.
I think the place where we really have trouble with this stuff is when it comes to people who are hurting us that we actually do really want to love. We really do want to keep forgiving them. But we are weary. They are wearing us out. We don’t know how much longer we can go on. We want to know if we can give up, but we’re scared what that might mean. Surely God does not want to us to keep enduring this pain. Surely he will understand if we just . . . give up. Things aren’t working. The results aren’t being seen. Efforts are not bearing fruit. I’ve changed, but he or she hasn’t.

Most of us know 1 Corinthians 13 really well, but let’s revisit a piece of it again:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres . . . Love never fails.

That’s some scary stuff right there. For we who are used to thinking of love as romance or warm-and-fuzzies or butterflies or sex, Paul has Jesus in mind as the model of love when he tells us, “Love is about sacrifice and service. And it keeps going. It never fails.”

How can this be? We think of those who have tried to love someone back from the brink only to see the person eventually go over. Certainly love fails in these circumstances, right?

I don’t think so. I think that’s true only if we are thinking of our love in terms of a results-based value. But that is not what Jesus is telling Peter. And that’s not what Paul is telling us.
Jesus does not offer Peter a loophole. There is no Forgiveness Contingency Plan. There’s no limited time warranty. Whether the person you’re loving embraces your forgiveness or not, you keep forgiving. Whether the person you love is changed by your love or not, you keep on loving.

In this sense, I don’t think “Love never fails” means “Love always gets the result the lover wants.” I think it means what it says: Love is not a failure.
Love is not a failure regardless of the results.

This is why: Because God is not a failure, and God is love. When we are loving someone with a persevering, sacrificial love, we are reflecting the eternal goodness and grace of God Himself. We are glorifying God, and there is no higher calling than that. None.
We love – not because it will “change the world” (although it may) – but because God loves us (1 John 4:19).

You would think this might incline us toward a begrudging love, then. “Oh, well, if it’s just for God, maybe I should stop hoping for change in the person I’m loving.” But Paul says love “always trusts, always hopes.”

Always trust that God is not content to honor your sacrificial love with a sympathetic pat on the head. Always hope that God is using your sacrificial love to change hearts and minds. (Maybe yours.)

Love always perseveres. Love never fails. So don’t give up.

Whoever you are, wherever you are: Don’t give up.
To the parents trying to love a wayward child back from the world, to the husband trying to love his wife back from drug addiction, to the wife trying to love her husband back from pornography or adultery, to the girl trying to love her friend back from bitterness, to the guy trying to love his friend back from despair – Don’t Give Up.
Don’t give up, don’t give up, don’t give up.

Whatever happens, whenever it happens, your love is not in vain. You are not alone, for God loves you and has approved your love through the sacrifice of his Son. Cast off despair; cast all your cares on Him.
Love never fails. Love is never a waste.

18 comments

Trackbacks:

Trackback URL: http://thinklings.org/bloo.trackback.php/3898.

Comments on "Love is Never a Waste":
1. De - 06/05/2007 9:21 am CDT

Awesome Jared!

What's really cool: I saw the Galatians passage earlier today (it's the ESV verse of the day) and sent it to someone.

And Sunday I taught the GAP class on Matthew 18:21-25 - the parable of the unforgiving servant. It turned into a neat (and painful) conversation as several members of the class told of their own anger, and even anger and lack of forgiveness toward God.

Side note: I'm always struck by the contrast Jesus setup in the parable. In Matthew the servant owes the king 10,000 talents. A talent is approximately equal to wages for 20 years of labor. So this number is astronomical. The unforgiving servant is also owed 100 denarii. That's about 100 days wages.

Amazing contrast, yet so true - we've been forgiven more than we can ever fathom, and yet we often hold grudges for the pettiest stuff.

I debated and wondered a bit on the "Your heavenly Father will not forgive you" warning. I think it says what it says, but I'm still not sure the implications (!)

The ending of your post (the portion you wrote on love) particularly rocked, btw.

2. Jared - 06/05/2007 10:01 am CDT

I debated and wondered a bit on the "Your heavenly Father will not forgive you" warning.

Well, I didn't put it quite that way, but yeah, it bothers me too. But I don't quite know how to get around it.

I suspect there is a dynamic quality in the two forgivenesses there, in which they are actually connected. I don't think Jesus is saying God will torture and punish those who are saved but commit the sin of unforgiveness. I think it's sort of a backwards way of saying "if you've been forgiven, you will forgive, and if you don't forgive, you have not been forgiven." But it's hard to say. And I don't want to spin a hard word from Jesus because it is uncomfortable or inconvenient.

I think, though, that it is a warning of what happens to people who do not enter the life of grace -- meaning, nonChristians. I think it's reflected in the Lord's prayer too: "Forgive us as we forgive those who have sinned against us." There seems to be a connection in which the two forgivenesses are mutually present in the lives of unbelievers.

But of course with all things in the Christian life, it's not a clean trajectory. I'm assuming the fruit-bearing sanctification process gradually makes this connection more and more present in the life of a disciple.

3. De - 06/05/2007 10:17 am CDT

"Well, I didn't put it quite that way"

I was referring to how the Bible puts it, not how you put it :-)

"And I don't want to spin a hard word from Jesus because it is uncomfortable or inconvenient. "

I don't want to either - I hope I'm not coming across as trying to spin it - not my intention! But I do have to teach it and I'm trying to teach it correctly.

It's a delimma. We all know people we believe to be Christians (heck, might be us) who have problems forgiving people. And we all believe that salvation is not earned. In other words, we don't earn forgiveness by being forgivers . . . . do we?

I had similar issues the weak before. I taught on the parable of the sower. I am more and more coming to the conclusion that the first three soils represent non-Christians (because they don't bear any fruit, and Christians are made to bear fruit). That being said, most people I know believe that only the hard soil represents non Christians.

I meant to post on this, but would be interested in your take, both delving a bit deeper into the fate of unforgiving Chrisitians and your thoughts on the soils (if you're interested in discussing here).

4. De - 06/05/2007 10:18 am CDT

"I had similar issues the weak before"

I meant "week" before.

Freudian slip?

5. Jared - 06/05/2007 10:26 am CDT

I was referring to how the Bible puts it, not how you put it

Ah, my bad. Sorry. I assumed you were referring to my statement: And Jesus says – this is the scary part – that’s what will happen to us if, spurning the grace given us by God, we withhold grace from others.

I'm with you on the debate/wonder about that warning, and I didn't mean to imply you wanted to spin it b/c of its inconvenience, only to imply that I would like to. :-)

I'd discuss this more now, but I'm heading off to take the girls to the pool. Ttyl

6. De - 06/05/2007 10:28 am CDT

" . . . only to imply that I would like to. :-)"

Heh.

Enjoy your time at the pool! I envy you.

7. MR. Bones - 06/05/2007 10:45 am CDT

That was very well written, man. It was great to read this blog today. Thanks bro!

8. nhe - 06/05/2007 12:08 pm CDT

Jared, you really should think about writing a daily devotional book......I know the market is saturated - but not with GOOD ones, like you have written here.

That Andy Stanley "Life Rules" series deals with this pretty head-on. Did you order it? If so, watch the sermon on "acceptance" - it truly is stuff we don't hear these days, not like we should.

I especially liked your point about love always hoping and trusting, and that we don't just love because we're told or begrudgingly, rather, we love expectantly because of the love that has transformed (and that we we want to tranform more) our own hearts.

9. De - 06/05/2007 12:39 pm CDT

Daily Devotional - pshhh...

I think Jared should write a full-blown theological treatise on this stuff.

10. nhe - 06/05/2007 1:02 pm CDT

me too, but people don't read that stuff (sadly nor do I).......De, I think your take on the soils is spot on, though you're right, most would say only the first one is NC........Regarding the fate of unforgiving Christians - Luke 15 puts it best - "he who is forgiven little loves little".........this begs the question - Can a truly regenerate believer only be forgiven little?.....of course not, but the bigger question is - can they be regenerate and only choose to bask in a small amount of forgiveness? - that's the tougher question for me - I wonder sometimes if the one who doesn't bask in the vast amount of forgiveness he/she has is the same one is who saved, "but only as thru fire" (I Cor 3).

But ultimately, I think that true regeneration results in true transformation - I don't think there is regeneration without ultimate sanctification......bottom line I suppose is that we are to take everyone who says they are a believer at their word and "encourage them day after day as long as it is still called today, lest any one of them be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin" (Heb 3:13).

11. Jared - 06/05/2007 1:05 pm CDT

nhe, yes, we're using the Life Rules DVD in our weekly Bible study right now. We've got one session left. It's really, really good and has fostered some great discussion. The messages are fantastic.
---

On a book:
My first plan is to, when I finish up the Old School Jesus series I'm doing at Element (I have two messages left, "Jesus the Lord" and "Jesus the Savior"), I'm going to turn each message into a chapter in the "Jesus book" I've itching to write for a while.
But I've wanted to take a stab at devotional book writing for a while too.

12. nhe - 06/05/2007 1:16 pm CDT

Glad you're enjoying Life Rules Jared - I've seen about 10 of his series (all on DVD) and that's the best one IMO........Great topics today - Integrity and Love - almost too good - I haven't gotten any work done.

13. nhe - 06/05/2007 1:34 pm CDT

btw Jared - off topic - The Sopranos - I was struck by how unceremoniously Sylvio made his exit - don't want to belabor, because it doesn't belong here.....hopetocontainme@yahoo.com is my email - love to hear your thoughts on the episode

14. DLE - 06/05/2007 4:09 pm CDT

Not only is love never wasted, but one drop of it given by one person may feel like a bucketful to the person receiving it. Love has a way of increasing itself the more it is given away. One small act of love may possess enormous, eternal consequences.

15. De - 06/05/2007 5:15 pm CDT

"One small act of love may possess enormous, eternal consequences."

Amen x 1,000,000 DLE! So true . . . So well said.

And, on the flipside, one careless word, one small act of spite, a minor hatred can kill over time.

16. Phil in CA - 06/05/2007 11:55 pm CDT

Regarding "Love never fails"... my understanding is that it might be better translated, "love never falters." Saying "love never fails" can imply that love always accomplishes it's goals or has the desired effect. While love is powerful, even God, who is Love, has his love rejected on a regular basis. The "love never fail" translation is even sometimes used to a fair share of guilt-inducing, such as when relationships (e.g., marriages) fail and some sophomore pops in with something like, "Yeah, but did you really love him/her? Love never fails, ya know." Well, we can love someone to the bitter end -- as Christ did on the cross -- and they can spurn us; not because love never "fails" but because love never falters.

17. De - 06/06/2007 6:35 am CDT

Hey Phil,

It's nice to hear from you again! :-)

18. Jared - 06/06/2007 6:48 am CDT

Hey, Phil, ditto De.

Saying "love never fails" can imply that love always accomplishes it's goals or has the desired effect.

Right, that was sorta my point. That's why I wrote:
I think that’s true only if we are thinking of our love in terms of a results-based value. But that is not what Jesus is telling Peter. And that’s not what Paul is telling us . . .
In this sense, I don’t think “Love never fails” means “Love always gets the result the lover wants.” I think it means what it says: Love is not a failure.
Love is not a failure regardless of the results.

Comments are closed
Powered by Bloo
version 1.10
Thinklings Reloaded theme - designed by the Thinklings with special thanks to Stroke for the graphics.