In his letter to the Corinthian believers, Paul describes a love that is supernatural in origin and character. It is a love that is beyond the reach of human experience but for the grace of God. He tells them (and us) that among other qualities this Christ-like love “hopes all things, endures all things” (I Corinthians 13:7).
When he says that love hopes all things, he is not referring to personal desires or needs. Love does not hope to win the lottery, overcome sickness, get a promotion at work, etc. Love first and foremost is relational in operation. Hence, this love is directed at others. In this instance, love hopes all things as it pertains to others.
Often we see others facing hard circumstances, e.g., financial setbacks, health crises, difficult family situations, etc. Sometimes, these hard circumstances are brought on by their own behavior. Love sees the opportunity for a God-honoring response to these circumstances. Love hopes for the best in others. This hope is not just a matter of wishful or positive thinking. It’s rooted in the God of all hope who is “good unto all” (Psalm 145:9).
God’s goodness always is directed at drawing men to himself in a saving relationship for God’s own glory. To know God and commune with God is man’s greatest need and his highest aspiration for God himself is man’s greatest satisfaction and joy. Again, the Psalmist writes “Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at the right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Psalm 16:11).
This undiminished confidence in God “who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (I Timothy 2:4) gives birth to intercessory and persevering prayer on behalf of all men in all circumstances. It is in this way that love truly hopes all things. The Psalmist alludes to this kind of hope when he writes “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living” (Psalm 27:13). Circumstances can quench hope; God is above all circumstances.
This hope is firmly rooted in the divine purpose of a personal God that yields itself to enduring all things. Sometimes the unsavory circumstances referred to above touch our own lives in ways that are unpalatable and even harmful. After all, relationships can be messy things that are made cumbersome and hurtful by sin. Rather than take flight and seek its own safety, love endures. The same Spirit that breathes hope into the heart gives strength to hold the course.
It is this love that hopes and seeks for the best in others regardless of the cost to itself that is truly divine. It is the very love that led Jesus Christ to the cross “to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Are you walking in that love?
From the Chaplain 