Love perseveres 

“It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” 1 Corinthians‬ ‭13‬:‭7‬ ‭NIV

Love keeps going! 

It’s not sympathy we need at times,
not even a listening ear … We need someone to say don’t give up!
What are you facing?
“Hold on! I love you! Don’t back away now!”

People never just give up. They gave up behind the smiles and laughter a long time ago. No matter how resilient you are if you do not know you are loved then you will fade. 

I’m not thinking we need to say ‘pull your socks up’ or to ‘keep smiling’ under duress. But rather have a conquering patience with anything that life can throw at us knowing that God who is love does love you!

It is always too soon to give up when there is love.

Sunday 22nd January 2017 I stood with a married couple with 2 small children for a photograph. This was their farewell from the church as they were being sent as church planters to an area where there was absolutely no Christian witness. It was for me a most poignant moment for I knew the struggle that they would face. I was in the region of the world where the Church is continually persecuted. Christians carried injuries to their bodies because they were Christ followers. I was told of how their houses got burnt down, their children set upon and their entire family despised as worthless. I asked the question, “What happens when it all gets too much?” The answer that came shocked me. “We stay.”

You may enter your day struggling to get through it. You face internal pressures from external circumstances that are causing you to wonder if you will ever be free. Physical problems, loneliness, financial instability, loss of work and broken relationships are making you feel like you are swimming against the tide. Let the persecuted Christians help you today. They have found something that is priceless. If we do what they do then we will be saved in our circumstance. They have discovered perseverance that has come through knowing ‘God so loved the world’; they know they are loved and they love people. The power of love causes them to remain, to hold on, for love perseveres.