It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
1 Corinthians 13:7
Always. A word without qualification or restriction.
How many things in our world can we include under the banner of always? Precious few. And yet this is Paul’s first use in a rapid succession of four. The challenge with an unqualified word such as this are twofold. First, we encounter them so rarely, we are often at a loss as to how to comprehend them. And second, having failed to understand it, we are lost as to the exercise of it.
The most salient question should be, are we as people capable of an always? Any kind of always. Do we carry the capacity to respond in the same manner under any given circumstance for any number of days? For that is the expectation of an always.
Take a moment right here to dwell on this thought. Do you have an always? More than one perhaps? Have you ever drawn a metaphorical line and refused to cross it no matter the cost? Is there anything important enough in your world to be an always for you?
In days gone past we anchored sacred vows like marriage in an always. In the contemporary world we have turned those always, into always…until. Until I no longer want to.. Until it becomes too difficult.. Until it ceases to be pragmatic. But an always with an exit clause is not an always. It shifts from a permanent, unqualified, measure to a measure with definitive boundaries in both space and time.
Are we physically capable of an always? Perhaps not. Our humanity rails against it. But we are capable of committing to the idea of an always? Have our intention set toward it? Work, function, make our decisions, based on the premise that our always is true? And if we breach our always, can we not abandon it? We repent if we need to, we return to our always, and we recommit to that always.
It should be compellingly clear that we should resist the urge to construct our own “always” (a sacred vow to God or man) without serious and measured reflection prior to committing to it. We should not enter one lightly.
But some always are a calling. Constructed as a core fabric of God’s plan for His intended way of things. And while they should give us pause, we should not be afraid, we should embrace them. And so it is with the four always of 1 Corinthians 13. And so it is with Love. The call to love does not contain an exit clause. Were it so, it would be reasonable to expect that Jesus could have exercised it prior to going to the cross, or Paul prior to being thrown into jail. No, the call to love rings on in eternity and its cry to us and its effect on others sounds eternal.
Let’s embrace the always that God has called us to church and let us carry the cost of own always with wisdom, measure, commitment and devotion.
Praying with you always
Stephen