Love Endures All Things

Alba 2-8-2026

LOVE ENDURES ALL THINGS

I Corinthians 13:7

It can be difficult these days to find a love that endures. There’s the story of a husband who placed an ad in the Rocky Mountain News just prior to a Super Bowl game some years ago. It said, “Will trade my non-cooking and non-shopping wife with attitude problems for one Super Bowl ticket. No Indian givers. Call...(he gave his name and phone number).” And it ended with the word “Hurry.”

When interviewed, the husband, although he was known to play practical jokes, claimed he was not kidding. He said the idea occurred to him the day after the AFC championship game when it snowed heavily in Denver. He said, “She refused to go shopping. She said the roads were too slick, so she made me do it. I get tired of that stuff after a while. If I could get a Super Bowl ticket, it would be a one-way trip.”

It doesn't sound like love was enduring in that situation. But it is not always husbands who act like that. Back in the 1970's Pepper Rodgers was the football coach at UCLA. There was a time that he was in the middle of a terrible season, and it got so bad that it upset his home life. Recalling that time he said, “My dog was my only friend. I told my wife that a man needs at least two friends. And she went out and bought me another dog.”

I Corinthians 13:7 has a list of four things that love will do. It says that love “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things”. That phrase “endures all things” is what we are going to talk about today, and it raises some questions. The first is...

Is There Such a Thing as a Love that Endures?

The word “endure” is a compound word that literally means “to remain under”. In secular Greek it was a military term that was used to describe an army holding its position at all costs. So in this context, it means that we hang in there, even in those difficult circumstances that occur when love faces the challenges of life. Because it endures all things.

But the problem is that we so often see situations where love does not endure. We see marriages that fail. We see love lost between parents and children. Troubles come that seem insurmountable. There is suffering, and trials, and pressures in life. When they come the feeling is – life shouldn't be like this. So people give up on love.

Too many people, sometimes even Christians, feel that God (if there is a God) should be available to ensure that they never face any troubles or problems. Their god is transformed into a sort of celestial grandfather who does what he can to make life comfortable for the self-centered soul. The individual is placed at the center of his or her universe; everything is arranged for their individual pleasure. Such an attitude keeps people from loving as they should. It also keeps them from staying faithful in a love relationship. If that attitude seeps into our lives, even though we are Christians, we need to be reminded of what Peter wrote in I Peter 4:12-13, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.”

The reality is that bad things do happen to good people. Christians suffer—some suffer to the point of death. However, that is not the end of the story. If that was all there was to the story there would be little reason to even consider becoming a Christian. Of course, as someone has said, if Christians were somehow divinely protected from experiencing opposition, injury or pain, everyone would choose to be a Christian.

But troubles come. When we were ministering in North Platte, Nebraska, a couple was attending the church. There was a terrible accident at the swimming pool. Their young son, about six years of age, drowned. It was a horrible time for them. Even after it happened, the mother kept thinking she could hear the boy calling to her. Later there was a discussion about insurance to pay for funeral expenses. The wife found out that the husband had not been paying the life insurance premiums, so there was no insurance. All of this caused dissension between them. And sadly it led to divorce. Whatever led them to each other was not enough to keep them together in this difficult time.

On the other hand, I know of many Christian couples who have gone through loss, through disappointments, through struggles with health or family issues who, because of their love for the Lord and for each other, they weathered the storms that came their way. But if troubles and problems do cause issues, it raises another question.