“Love Never Fails!” – Paul
To be honest, Valentine’s Day does not make my “top five” list for favorite occasions. Now I most certainly am a huge fan of love, and I’m very much in favor of making a big deal about romance – I guess I’ve just never appreciated the way it’s all packaged February 14.
I mean, if treating the person you love with kindness, and showering them with affection is a great idea Valentine’s Day, then why not do it every day? And if finding creative ways to say “I love you!” works February 14, how about using your imagination at least a couple of times a week? How about demonstrating your passion as an ongoing undercurrent of romantic enthusiasm?
What if we made a habit of the First Corinthians 13 quality of love? “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”
Just a couple of weeks ago I wrote about how amazing and life changing it was to fall in love with Rebekah forty years ago – “Celebrating 40 Years of Dating“. So today I will simply say that I still continue to fall for her a little more each day.
Our love, in the language of The Church, is a Reformation kind of love. By that I mean that falling in love not only challenged and changed us, but it continues to challenge us and change us.
Our love, in the language of The Church, is a Reformation kind of love. By that I mean that falling in love not only challenged and changed us, but it continues to challenge us and change us.
To be “Reformed” theologically is to be continually reforming in response to our decision to follow Jesus, our relationship to God, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, our encounters with God’s word, and our life together as a body of believers.
Today, almost 38 years into the commitment of our marriage, we are constantly changing, growing, recalibrating, recommitting, and moving forward in the relationship. The imperative of faith is to be reconciled to God and to one another (2 Corinthians 5:11-21); the imperative of a great marriage is exactly the same thing.
This is what Rebekah and I are celebrating today. It’s what we celebrate every day – DEREK
