God . . . never fails

1 Corinthians 13: 4 – 8

Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

Today ends this series. I hope you have enjoyed it. We know better than ever the very nature and character of God. Today’s final entry is a good conclusion. If we cannot remember all sixteen attributes of love, this one certainly seems to say it all, Love never fails. Yahoo! Translate that – it means God will never, ever fail us. We may fall short of the prize but God never has, never will. He does not fail.

You are born of this great love, you know. So, you have all the power of love living inside you. You need not fail, ever. “Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 John 4: 4). The great one is He who has taken up residence within you. His power is yours, even His love is yours. We can express all that God is but not through our own strength and willpower. As we intertwine with Him we learn to express that integration. God brings out the best in us. He infuses everything that we are with everything He is. It’s like having a constant blood infusion of God’s blood, or should we say, of Jesus’ blood. There is so much revelation buried in that statement that we could camp out for months on its truth. This is who you are though, the born of love, born of the greater one you. You are God’s greatest miracle. You may see flaws but they are only skin deep, truly.

Love truly is power and you are heir to this unfailing power. I think you are justified in shouting right here. Love never fails, so God never fails and He, God, is enmeshed, intermingled, intertwined, intermixed and co-mingled in your DNA. You have God’s life blood flowing through your veins. When we all get a big revelation of all of this we will walk on water, heal the sick, raise the dead and do even more than Jesus as he said we would (John 14: 12). If we knew what a great miracle God had wrought in us, truly nothing would be impossible to us . (Matthew 17: 20).

Whatever you aspire to, whatever dreams and ambitions you hold in your heart the love which is God longs to fulfill them all. Regardless of past failures, despite the naysayers, the most powerful force on earth believes with you and in you. Don’t give up and don’t give in because love never does and . . . love never fails.

The Character of God

Galatians 5: 22

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

We saw yesterday from 1 John 4: 8 and 1 Corinthians 13: 4 – 8 that God’s essential nature is love. Today’s verse reveals the characteristics of God’s personality. As you look at them you can see that first is love but moreover that all the rest flow from love. The best way to get the full revelation of this verse is to put “God is” in front of each word i.e. God is love, God is joy….

These characteristics determine how God behaves and how He interacts with others just the same way as our personality traits predict how we will behave. So, God is always patient with us, always loving, kind and gentle. He exercises great self-control. Most of us can testify to the latter one.

Conversely, we can know what God is not by acknowledging His qualities. For example, we can deduce that God is not unkind or unfaithful. Can we not deduce a great deal more though? He is not cruel, vengeful, harsh, intolerant, hateful, spiteful or mean-spirited. He is all things which are good and none of those traits which are painful to us. He is ultimate goodness and kindness. He is neither over-bearing nor a punitive spirit. His intent, therefore, is not to punish us but rather to guide us with loving hands. And He is not scary. He is beautiful. He is warmth and sunshine.

We can know the Father of all personally, intimately and as we do we perceive greater and greater levels of His great kindness and affection. He is completely predictable in His goodness towards all creation. He loves us.

The Essential Nature of God

1 John 4: 8

God is love.

1 Corinthians 13: 4 – 8

Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes al things hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

God is love. It is His essential nature; what He is, what He is made of. Love is not an attribute of God, not one of His characteristics. It is the substance of who and what He is. We cannot separate love from God but many people, even those of the church, have lost the certainty of that statement. We understand with our minds that God is love but in our hearts we still hold onto a God who is vengeful and wrathful.

When we combine the two verses for today we get an accurate picture of God. God is patient, God is kind, and is not jealous; God does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; He does not seek His own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes al things hopes all things, endures all things. God never fails.

Our God is the perfect parent. Love drives everything He does. His love is sacrificial and unselfish. He is everything we want in a friend, spouse or parent and He is all those to us. He is perfect love. There is no fear in His presence because perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4: 18). Our God who is mighty in deed is as gentle as a lamb. 

We really must get a deep revelation of this lover who is our God. We need to hold deep within our hearts the absolute truth of the Father’s love for each one of us individually. There is no power until there is this abiding truth within us. Your Father loves you absolutely and unconditionally. Meditate on that until you cannot be swayed. Then you will soar with wings as eagles.