Today’s devotion is based on the Message: Love Revealed (Watch Here)
Failure.
Do you have the fear of failure?
Most people have a natural adversity to failing. We usually don’t start something that we know we are going to fail at, at least not very often. When we do fail, it can be crushing. We may feel so defeated that we never try again.
On the other hand failure, when evaluated and learned from can move us forward in life. If you quit playing little league baseball after missing your first pitch, you would have quit too soon. If you would have dropped out of school after getting your first F on an assignment, you would have missed out on your education.
Failure happens because we are not perfect people. Failure isn’t necessarily wrong, in fact, when failure causes us to evaluate and adjust and learn to do something a different way, it might be the best thing for us!
Have you ever failed at love? Or has love ever failed you?
I would guess all of us would say, “yes” to this.
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13:8, “Love never fails.”
Has this been your experience?
Love NEVER fails?
How do we reconcile this passage with our experience?
To get to understand love that never fails, maybe we first evaluate what causes love to fail?
When we look at love from the world’s standpoint, we can begin to see where love breaks down. Here’s a few reasons why love fails:
- Love is often based on feelings—such as attraction, chemistry, or happiness.
- Love tends to be conditional, based on the other person’s behavior, compatibility, or benefit to the individual.
- Often focused on what one receives—security, pleasure, validation, or fulfillment.
- Love can fade or shift based on circumstances, feelings, or unmet expectations.
- Idealized in media as a fairy tale or emotionally overwhelming experience.
- Definitions of love shift based on cultural trends, societal values, and personal preferences.
In all of these, love becomes subjective and has little substance upon which it stands. You can probably connect with one or two of these as you evaluate past experiences.
So, the benefit of failure is it leads us to ask, “What will keep me from failing in the future?”
The love that never fails is a love that is rooted in God’s love for us. If we want to love to never fail, it must be rooted in the never failing love God has for us. The Apostle John writes,
1 John 4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
It’s this love we want to discover so that God’s never-failing love takes deep root in us!
Apply: When has love failed you? Or seemed like it failed? Which of the evaluations might have happened in that circumstance?
Prayer: Lord, forgive us for times we try to define and practice love based on the ways of the world. Give me a humbleness of heart to learn from my failures and learn more of your never-failing love! AMEN