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We live in a crazy, mixed-up, broken world. Just look at some of the things that happened in the United States this past year. Men who think they are women demand to participate in women’s sports and change clothes in women’s locker rooms. And they are celebrated for doing so. Schools and libraries expose children to sexualized drag shows. Teachers allow students to act as the opposite gender while keeping it secret from their parents. Doctors cut off the gender-specific body parts of boys and girls who suffer from gender dysphoria. Many people demand the right to abort a child at any point during pregnancy.

OF course, these are the most extreme forms of brokenness we see. We don’t even blink any more at people who insist on sexual expression outside of God’s design for marriage. Or at the vitriol and hatred people spew on social media. We’ve even come to expect increasing crime in our streets.

Would you call this world loving? Probably not. But the real question is whether we are loving. 1 Corinthians 13:6 says, “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.” (NIV 1984) It is not enough for us to shun the evil in this world. True love rejoices with the truth. I like the idea of rejoicing, don’t you? In the face of a broken world, love others by rejoicing in the truth.

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Visit Elmer Fuller’s author website at: https://www.elmerfuller.com/

Bumper music “Landing Place” performed by Mark July, used under license from Shutterstock.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:00 — 3.7MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

Do you know what love looks like? That’s an interesting question, because most of us probably thought of romantic love. We may have pictured a happy couple, a wedding or a Valentine heart. That’s the way our culture usually thinks about love. But I am talking about the selfless kind of love. Do you know what that looks like? It is described in 1 Corinthians 13:6-7, which says, “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” (NIV)

So much of that description is delightful. But were you surprised that love always perseveres? When you hear that phrase “always perseveres,” what comes to your mind? I think of parents who have to care for their special needs child for years. I think of my friends Jim and Eileen, who cared for their son, Tim, for most of the 57 years of his life. I’m sure it wasn’t easy. I’m sure they were often tired. I’m sure at times it stretched them financially. But they never quit. That’s what perseverance is. It never quits even when it is difficult to continue.

God’s love for us never quits. Most of us can be pretty hard to love, at least some of the time! But God keeps loving us. May we also persevere in loving those around us, even when it’s not easy to do so!

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Bumper music “Landing Place” performed by Mark July, used under license from Shutterstock.