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1 Cor 13:4-7

4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Our final week in our daily devotional series on love. For our twelfth thing we will look at concerning love, is something that love also does.

bears all things

The word bears is best rendered by "endure," or "patient".

In my marriage we have had both good times as well as bad or hard times. It seems the first year is always the hardest as you get used to one another. But real love is being patient with each other, despite their little flaws or faults.
Even in friendships you can get on each other's nerves once in a while, yet you remain friends because of that love for one another.

One of my best friends has a slight weight problem and with this comes what is called sleep apnea, where a person doesn't get enough sleep at night and gets tired during the day. On top of this, he can snore big time when he sleeps. When he comes over we will be talking and he will fall asleep right there in the chair or sofa. I know his problem so I let him sleep, then the snoring starts. It drives me crazy, yet I put up with it because I care for him.
There are times when we wont see each other for a few years, but as soon as we do it's like we just saw each other yesterday.

In marriage I could tell you things about my wife and I'm sure she could probably tell you even more things about me that we don't particularly care for. But we put up with it because we love each other. Now if it is something wrong then we should be able to tell the other as we learned yesterday.
But real love looks past those faults and sees the good in the other person.
How about an example from the bible, from Jesus Himself!

John 8:10-11 10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, "Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?" 11 She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more."

We all know the story of the woman caught in adultery, and this is the end of this particular story, where Jesus is demonstrating love to her by not accusing her, but seeing past her past, and seeing what she is capable of in the future.

Jesus could have condemned her, yet he chooses not to.
I'm sure you can find faults in your spouse or friend that you can condemn them for as well.
But remember that Jesus looked past this woman's faults, and He looked past yours and mine as well.
Shouldn't we demonstrate that type of love as well?

John 8:12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

Let the light of Jesus' love shine through you, your marriage, and your friendships!

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