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When the Apostle Paul wrote that “love never fails,” he wasn’t talking about romantic love as it is portrayed today. He was describing the way God loves. For example, God loves you simply because he has chosen to do so. He has placed his love on you, and it is an unfailing love. That’s because his love doesn’t depend on the receiver of the love. Human love, on the other hand, fluctuates based on our feelings, on the other person’s behavior or lack of, on how they treat us.
In Shakespeare’s famous sonnet, he says, “Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds.” Failed love alters with time, with feelings, with changes in the one loved. But God’s unfailing love does not depend on us. It is a love that comes from within him, not from what he finds in us. We can do nothing to cause him to love us; he simply loves us. And we can do nothing to cause him to stop loving us.
John says it like this: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us” 1 John 4:10.
This kind of unfailing love is beyond our complete understanding, but it is not beyond our accepting and experiencing God’s love. At this year’s weekend getaway, April 17-19, 2020, we are going to focus on God’s unfailing love, and what that means in our everyday lives. We will explore this love from many perspectives. For example, I’m going to focus on the things that prevent so many of us from feeling and knowing God’s love. We sing about God’s love and quote Scripture about it, but often it’s a fact many know in their heads, but not a love that they experience—not a love that makes a difference in their everyday living.
Dάmaris Carbaugh is going to talk about how our failures often make us believe that we can never recover; that God surely will withhold his love from us, or at least, he will love us less because we’ve failed. That’s a lie from Satan, and Dάmaris will flesh that out for you.
Carol Kent’s workshop will focus on how knowing and living in God’s unfailing love will give you staying power for your marriage. You know, often when a crisis hits, a marriage suffers—even a healthy marriage. So, Carol is going to focus on the challenges that life throws at us unexpectedly and through no fault of our own. She’ll explain how the unfailing love of God will give you the love you need to weather such a storm.
My friend, Afton Rorvik, is addressing a topic that I know is much needed: Encouraging and supporting the introverts among us, as she calls it. She would describe herself as that quiet soul, that introvert, who finds crowds intimidating. But she has learned that you can embrace introvertedness as a gift from the God of unfailing love, rather than as a character flaw.
And Cynthia Leggett will talk about how trusting in God’s unfailing love will help you to trust his wisdom in dealing with money. So many struggle with being a good steward of their money, but she will show you that the words that scare you—like budgets, savings and debt—can be a healing balm to aid you in the area of contentment.
So, we’re going to approach this topic of God’s unfailing love from various practical perspectives, so that you walk away with a renewed understanding of God’s love, and you know how to rest in and depend on that love in every area of your life.
Michael W. Smith has a song about unfailing love called “Never Been Unloved.” Here are some of the lyrics:
I have been unfaithful, I have been unworthy,
I have been unrighteous, and I have been unmerciful.
I have been unreachable, I have been unteachable
I have been unwilling and I’ve been undesirable.
But because of you (Jesus), I know that I have never been unloved.
Maybe one of the reasons we don’t bask in the truth of God’s unfailing love for us is simply because we don’t meditate on it enough. Just take these lyrics and meditate on them:
How often have you been unfaithful? Remember the times you didn’t take the opportunity to share your faith with someone else? Remember when you made a promise you didn’t keep? Remember how often your faith has been weak or non-existent, and you simply didn’t trust God to take care of you? You’ve been unfaithful—but you’ve never been unloved.
Think of how you’ve been unrighteous—those times when you knew to do the right thing but you didn’t. You were unrighteous. But in the midst of that sin, you were never unloved. God’s unfailing love was there through it all.
I think of how much time I have spent in unwilling mode—just didn’t want to do what God wanted me to do. Didn’t want to be patient; didn’t want to put others first and myself last; didn’t want to be inconvenienced or interrupted. I have been unwilling, but I’ve never been unloved.
It’s true of all of us, isn’t it, that way too often we are unkind and uncaring, unjust and unfair, unflexible and unteachable, but never, ever have any of us been unloved. Because God is love and he has chosen to love you no matter what!
You may have experienced life without much love—people who should have loved you and been good to you, but weren’t or haven’t yet. You may have been untouched or unaccepted, unseen and unimportant, unqualified or unsophisticated, but you have never, never been unloved.
Listen to how David describes God’s love (Psalm 36:5-7):
Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies.Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
your justice like the great deep.
You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
Do you have memories as a child of running into your mother’s or father’s arms for safety, for security? David says that God’s priceless unfailing love is a place that you can take refuge; a place of safety and security. You run into his hiding place of unfailing love and the world is shut out.
We sing a song about this at my church, and the words are so good. You probably know them:
Higher than the mountains that I face. Stronger than the power of the grave
Constant through the trial and the change. One thing remains, This one thing remainsYour love never fails, and never gives up. It never runs out on me
Your love never fails, and never gives up. It never runs out on me
Your love never fails, and never gives up. It never runs out on me
Songwriters: Brian Johnson / Christa Black / Jeremy Riddle
I think that will be the theme song for our weekend getaway, “Your love never fails, and never gives us. It never runs out on me.” If you know that song, sing it often. If you don’t, learn it and sing it often. You see, we are so prone to forget in the midst of our days, our pains, our struggles—we have pretty faulty memories that are susceptible to the lies of Satan, and he does not want you and me to be filled with the knowledge of the love of God—of his unfailing love.
Paul wrote this prayer to the believers in Ephesus, and it is my prayer for you as well:
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God (Ephesians 2:17b-19).
Paul says we can know this love which cannot be known! Did you get that? To know the love that surpasses knowledge? We can know what can’t be known—God’s unfailing love and we can be filled to the measure—to the full—with his love. May that be our hearts’ deepest desire and may it be our primary motivation in all we do—to know and live in God’s unfailing love.