Unfailing Love

For the month of March I'm focusing on Love.  It is the first fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians.  And 1 Corinthians 13:13 tells us "Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love."  So I started this month off by going to my Bible concordance and looking up the word love.  As you can image there are many many entries.  Love is a big topic in the Bible.  So I started skimming through the love verses listed and something really struck me.  It seemed like about a third of the verses had the word "unfailing" before love.  A third of the many many verses on love, talked about God's unfailing love for us.

God's unfailing love for us: God. While it is important for us to love, it is God that love's first.  1 John 4:19 says that "We love each other because He loved us first."  This fits right in with our studies on the Spirit's fruit.  We are commanded to love, but not in our own strength.  We need to invite the Spirit's love to flow through us.

God's unfailing love for us: Unfailing.  Wow, that seems like a strong word.  Not much in my life is unfailing.  My car breaks down.  My kids learn to play together only to start fighting 10 minutes later.  I lose my cell phone.  My friends say something that hurts me.  I see marriages break apart.  My favorite TV show gets canceled.  But God's love is unfailing.  It will always be with me.  It will always support me.  It will always be enough for me.  1 Corinthians 13:8 says that this is true love - unfailing.  Here is in a couple of different translations:
Love never fails. (NIV)
But love will last forever! (NLT)
Love never dies. (The Message)
Love never ends. (RSV)

God's unfailing love for us: For Us.  Can you believe this?  When I was teaching I was reading a story to my students one day about a boy who did something naughty.  I remember asking them if they thought his mom still loved him.  I was shocked that it lead to a discussion.  So many of the kids thought that his mom probably didn't love him because he was bad.  I have found that a lot of people I've come across struggle to believe that God love them unfailingly.  Many tell me that they have never received unfailing love and cannot fathom it.  My story is different, though.  I cannot ever remember a time in my life when I questioned if my parents loved me.  I know there were times they were mad at me.  I'm sure there were times they didn't want to speak to me.  But somehow, they always let God's unfailing love move through them to me.  I know God loves me so much because I saw His love for me through them.  

So I guess the question for me today is, am I letting God's love move through me in small amounts at some times to some people.  Or am I opening myself up to letting God's unfailing love move through me to my spouse, my children, and everyone else I come in contact with throughout the day.