Love Endures All Things

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Cor. 13:7)
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​The fourth action that biblical love displays is endurance.  Love “endures all things.”  The question is how is this different from the idea that “love bears all things”?  In my previous post “Love Bears All Things” (click here to read it), I said the “Greek word for “bears” is the word stegō, and it carries the meaning of ‘to cover, to pass over in silence, or to keep confidential.’  Thus, when scripture says that love bears all things, it means that love is willing to overlook the flaws and shortcomings of others.”  Here the Greek word for “endures” is the word hupomenō, and it carries the meaning of ‘being patient under adversity, suffer, endure, put up with.’  Thus, true, biblical, and Christ-honoring love puts up with a lot.  No matter how difficult someone can be, no matter how often they disappoint us or offend us or sin against us, love says to that person, “I’m going to love you anyway and I’m going to keep loving you because that’s what love does.”  An incredible example of this is the story of Hosea.  Here is a man who married a prostitute named Gomer because God commanded him to.  However, Hosea grew to truly love his wife and had had three children with her.  The problem is that his wife continued to engage in prostitution and, as you would expect, this began to really upset Hosea, and so he begins to complain and moan to his family about her (2:1-5).  Imagine your wife or husband out on the streets at night having sex with strangers for money.  How would you react?  Hosea responds by vowing to do all he can to win her affections (2:14).  Amazing!  But then things go from bad to worse and his wife ends up being sold as a slave by her pimp on the auction block.  Now most men at that point would think, ‘Good!  She got what she deserved, and I’m finally rid of her.’  Not Hosea.  What does he do?  He buys her back and says to her, “You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man, so will I also be to you” (3:2).  That’s amazing!  Why would he do that?  That's what love does.  Love endures all things.