Wedding B-sides

 This week's verse is 1 Corinthians 13:7

It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Some of you may recognize this verse from the standard set of verses that get read at every Christian wedding. Love is patient, love is kind, etc. We like how they sound, and when we think about romantic love in the theoretical sense, we are 100% on board with them. Someone in love is going to be patient, kind, selfless, etc. Of course.

But these are not verses meant to describe an idealistic human marriage. They are Paul's observations on how we must be if we are to authentically live out our Christian lives. They answer a very basic question: In a hostile world that is full of manipulation and vice, how are we supposed to be? And that answer is based on how Jesus lived among us, because it is his example we are meant to follow.

So we come to these inconvenient verses. Love bears all things. Love believes all things. Love hopes all things.  Love endures all things. Are we really up for that?

If love bears all things, how does that shape our response when some irresponsible friend is always low on grocery money? Do we pay the difference out of our own pocket? Do we take the time to help them to navigate the social services system? Do we give them the zucchini we have extra from the garden? Or do we say "not my problem" and leave them to bear their own burden at a time and place that doesn't cramp our style.

If love believes all things, how do we navigate the unfashionable things the Bible proposes for us to believe, when it could get us canceled or cause strife amongst those we love? Do we put God's word first and take the heat when it is unpopular? Or do we suspend our beliefs and camouflage ourselves in words and actions that are indistinguishable from unbelief?

If love hopes all things, how do we keep the hope of the resurrection in a world that sees death as the end? Is going all-in on our sense of self-preservation really an act of hope? Is it hope that makes the funeral of a believing friend seem so final? I think if we were able to hope all things that our behavior would be radically different than it is.

If love endures all things, how does that affect how we react to a failing economy, a social climate that is increasingly hostile, bad weather, chronic pain and sickness, being on the wrong side of office politics, being the wrong color and gender for the last remaining pay raises and promotions, and so on? What does it mean to endure? Like are we still the same Christian as we were when we went into the storm, or do we give up or join the mob calling for revenge and self-zealotry?

All four of these are hard questions, even seemingly impossible challenges, but they are part of what is meant to be baseline Christian faith. If we are authentic in what we say we believe, that Jesus Christ died for our sins, that he has called us to follow him and be imitators of him, and that this calling includes self-sacrifice and a hope for eternal life, then how could we be doubtful, hopeless, or unwilling to pay any price?

 Take some time this week to measure yourself against these verses. You will probably find it quite humbling. But it is good to shine a light on those dim areas and see what is lurking in them. If you're lucky you have at least four areas that you can reach out for God's help in.