It can be quite painful to begin rummaging through the remains of a broken relationship, a splintered family, or any number of personal failures that we so often face in this short life. But where it gets very raw is when we begin to look inward and examine our own hearts...to see where maybe... ‘we got it wrong’. We know most of the blame lies on everyone else around us, and this ‘fallen’ world, and of course ‘that ‘ole devil’, right? Sigh...

Friends, I would submit to you that true healing and restoration can’t even begin to happen, until we pull that dark curtain back and humble ourselves before God and ask: “Lord...is it I?” (Matt. 26:25). And trust me, I know I’m wading in to some very sensitive waters here, but hang with me, if you would.

I can’t help but wonder if I left some of you yesterday who may have read my post (Love Never Fails) asking if the reason a previous marriage or relationship failed was because you didn’t ‘love that person enough’. I would also submit that it was not about you failing to ‘try harder to do better and loving others more’; on the contrary...the failure that so many people experience boils down to ...not loving God ‘enough’...or the way in which He asks of us, which was to come to Him and love Him with ALL of our hearts. And please don’t be quick to start jumping to painful conclusions here with a boat-load of “what if’s” or “are you saying...?’ scenarios.

All we have to do is go back to God’s word once again and see how often His people ended up lamenting, weeping, and falling on their faces over their painfully broken lives, and coming to their own conclusions as to ‘how’ they ended up in such a place. You might read Deut. 29:20-29, and the first two chapters in the Book of Lamentations, as we see how God’s people...multiple generations apart came to realize why they ended up in such a place; and it was never God’s fault either (Hosea 4:6); ... it always pointed back to their sins.(Lam. 3:37-42; Ps.107:10-11; Luke 15:17-19)

The good news in all this, is we still see and read about God’s unfailing love, mercy, and willingness to once again... lift us up from the ashes. (Deut. 30; Joel 2:12-13;Luke 15:20-24)

But it can sure be hard to get past those daggers we want to hurl at God demanding to know “why He let this happen to us!?’, especially when we thought we believed in and trusted all His promises, like the one about how ‘love never fails’!

So about that ‘promise’ or ‘guarantee’ I wrote about yesterday...[changing lanes here now]...

...did you know the reason God sent Jesus down here was not only to ‘save/deliver’ us (John 3:17-18), but He also came to ‘perfect’ us in His (agape) love. (1 John 4:12,17; Matt. 5:48; James 1:4). We simply did not have what it takes to truly love God with all our hearts and our neighbors as ourselves ...no matter how hard ‘we tried’. So this transformation would involve our surrendering our lives as we came to Him in humility, take up our cross as well, and begin to follow Him so that HE...could do the work in us (Phil. 1:6). But it still requires our submission and obedience to His voice which those who follow Him...will hear and know (John 10:3-4,27)

And for the life of me...I remain perplexed to this notion that for so many who claim to be people of ‘faith’...that the word ‘obey’ is not compatible to their belief system. (Luke 6:46)

Look at what Peter wrote in his first letter, talking about how we ‘purify’ our souls. We do it by ‘obeying...the truth through the Spirit...in sincere love of the brethren’...as we ‘love one another fervently with a pure heart’ (1 Pet.22-23).

Paul would add to this with his prayer that the Lord will “make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all...so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God...” (1 Thess. 3:12-17). And were you aware that Paul wrote to Timothy reminding him that the purpose of the commandments/instruction was ‘love from a pure heart’ (1 Tim. 1:5)

This...kind of ‘God love (agape) is the love that ‘never fails’. It transcends this ‘good ‘ole boy’ love as we strive to be friendlier and ‘more loving’ with others, or at least with those we like, who look and think like us. (Luke 6:32)

Do you recall Paul’s admonition to us to ‘examine ourselves’ to see if we even ‘pass the test’? (2 Cor. 13:5). Here’s a good ‘gauge’ so see how we are doing in this area:

This ‘God kind of love...that never fails’...looks like this: “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” ( 1 Cor. 13:4-8-NLT)

And if you read verses 1-3 there, Paul points out how we can be overly active in doing all kinds of other ‘religious activity’ that on the surface, looks impressive; but if we are lacking in this agape-love...it is all for naught; as in it profits us nothing. Sounds like what those folks in Matt. 7:21-23 learned the hard way as they were told to ‘depart’ given their ongoing ways to practice lawlessness and iniquity, which are fancy terms for breaking God’s laws.

Did you know what it means to fulfill God’s law? Walking and manifesting the God kind of love which is the fulfillment of the law...and is not an ‘option’ (Rom. 2:13; 8:4;13:8-14). And let me remind us all once more...we don’t accomplish this by ‘trying harder to do better’.

The only way this happens...is if we come to Him with all our heart...and learn to abide in Him. (John 15:1-8; 1 John 2:3-6). When we do, He fills our hearts with HIS love. (Rom. 5:5)