Week 13: Love Never Loses Faith

Love always believes.

The actual translation is “all things believes”. Obviously Paul doesn’t mean that love believes in all truths, or any doctrine, or any salvation. So what does he mean that Love believes all things?

The word for believes found in this passage is “pisteuo” which means “I believe”, but the word is actually derived from the  “peitho” which is "to be persuaded." In study, I learned that this word had a 'sacred significance' that the culture understood that we probably do not, about being persuaded by the Lord, or a ‘believing that proceeds from God’s implanting of faith.’

In other words, it starts with Him.

Human faith is wavering at best. Our beliefs sway to and fro with each wind. Science sometimes confirms things about God we already believed (we just heard a teaching about how scientists are discovering that the brain can actually be changed by specific practices, which we have always believed as the “renewing of the mind” found in Paul’s letter to the Romans.) But sometimes science seems to disprove something from the bible. Early Christians believed the earth was the center of the universe, or at least stood still, based on a verse in Joshua. When scientists proved that the sun was the center of our solar system, and that actually the earth revolved around the sun, the religious community went crazy, even putting people to death for such slander against the bible. When something like this happens today (like fights about evolution or how old the earth is), I just look at my loving God, my personal relationship with Jesus, and think to myself, “Who cares if science proves something I believed in isn’t true? It doesn’t change all my personal interactions with God Himself, it doesn’t change who He is, and it honestly makes no difference to me.”*  Science itself changes over the ages, so believing everything based on science requires just as much faith and stubbornness, or most likely even more, than religion, because with science, there is no personal and spiritual conviction attached. I strongly believe that the earth revolves around the sun. Does it affect my relationship with God and the plans that He has for my life? No. Sorry, it just doesn’t.

Our faith, our belief, starts with something that God placed in us. I’m not convinced that Jesus is Lord just because someone told me it’s so. I’m convinced because I’ve heard Him speak, I’ve felt His comfort, and I’ve gotten to know His guidance in my life, all because HE started an interaction with ME. HE called me out of the deepest waters. HE threw me a lifeline. He may respond to me seeking and searching, yes, but only because I am responding to the desire HE set within my heart.

The love that always believes and never gives up, is not something I have to strive for. It’s there. God placed it in me. It’s HIS LOVE that never gives up and always believes. In fact, when I try to love in my own strength, I fail miserably. Once I take my marriage into my own hands, and try to love my spouse with MY love, it runs out, I give up, it’s too hard, I can’t do it. But when I tap into God’s Love, I find an endless stream of life, a water that quenches my thirst so that I’ll never thirst again.

Loving in my own strength equals giving up, doubt, loss of faith, wavering belief, sadness, and criticism.

Loving from God’s “implanting of faith” means there is no end to the amount of love I can give. I don’t stop believing in this love, I am convinced God Himself put it there in me. And He doesn’t remove this gift from me, ever. Romans 11:29 says that, “God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable.” He placed this deep faith inside me and is not going to take it away. It doesn’t matter what I do. It will always be there. How can I not “believe all things” when this is the case?

Think about it. You have a resource of never-ending faith already placed inside your heart. Let’s ask God how to tap into it better, how to walk in the Spirit and the sacred truth placed in our hearts, rather than walking from every emotion or pain or fear in our minds. We are more than just a brain, we are a Soul, something so important to God that He planted little secrets inside there for us to seek after. It sets us apart from the other animals on earth**. We have a faith set deep inside of us, a gift that can never be taken away, which allows us to RESPOND to Him in seeking and searching.

One of the greatest desires I have for my life on earth is to have an adventure. What a waste life would be if there were no adventure, no discovery, no rush and thrill of wildness and chasing? And what better way to have an adventure than to seek this Wild God who gives us treasures along the way, hinting at a love and beauty that never end.

There is just nothing more satisfying than that.


Asterisked entries:
 
*I’m sorry if this is important to you. I understand God has placed certain gifts in people to make them feel very strongly about certain doctrines, but when all is said and done, I just want to love God, and I’m not overly concerned with making science align with my beliefs. Sometimes I feel like we’ll just never know until it’s over, so what’s the point of arguing about it until then?

**God breathed Himself into man but not the other animals, I believe this could be the soul or spirit.