Recently, I was hanging out in my bedroom, folding and putting away clothes, when I took an interest in a framed calligraphy piece on our wall that says, “Love Never Fails.” That wall hanging has been there since the day we moved in, but tonight I finally took it in for the first time. Love never fails. I am confident I’ve never looked at it before in such a mindful way. Honestly, I had always written it off as somewhat cliche. But this time, it stopped me. Is it true? Does love never fail?

How is it possible that love never fails? I mean, c’mon!? Divorce rates are high, and us-versus-them mobs are increasingly violent. It’s considered commonplace to disrespect and poke fun at complete strangers, and murder is an acceptable way to win an argument, apparently. It sounds like love went belly up a long time ago. Yet, those fancy-schmancy words hold merit when God enters the picture.

“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” – 1 John 4:16

God is love, and God does not fail. The only thing that fails is our understanding of it. To have an accurate interpretation and appreciation for love, we need to have a relationship with God, who is the embodiment of love. In the end, the writing on the wall (no pun intended) is absolutely true: love never fails.

Heavenly Father,

You are the God of Love. You are Love. Teach us what this means. And grow our understanding of love in a world where we fail to grasp the most superficial notions of it at times. Help us live in love so that you may live in us. Amen.