Out shopping today I saw a small farm-styled block snowman with the caption on the bottom, “Love Never Melts.”
I thought it was cute and smiled as I walked on, but it immediately brought 1 Corinthians 13 to my mind.
(https://biblehub.com/cev/1_corinthians/13.htm)
1 What if I could speak
all languages of humans
and even of angels?
If I did not love others,
I would be nothing more
than a noisy gong
or a clanging cymbal.
2 What if I could prophesy
and understand all mysteries
and all knowledge?
And what if I had faith
that moved mountains?
I would be nothing,
unless I loved others.
3 What if I gave away all
that I owned
and let myself
be burned alive?+
I would gain nothing,
unless I loved others.
4 Love is patient and kind,
never jealous, boastful,
proud, or 5 rude.
Love isn't selfish
or quick tempered.
It doesn't keep a record
of wrongs that others do.
6 Love rejoices in the truth,
but not in evil.
7 Love is always supportive,
loyal, hopeful,
and trusting.
8 Love never fails!
Everyone who prophesies
will stop,
and unknown languages
will no longer
be spoken.
All that we know
will be forgotten.
9 We don't know everything,
and our prophecies
are not complete.
10 But what is perfect
will someday appear,
and what isn't perfect
will then disappear.
11 When we were children,
we thought and reasoned
as children do.
But when we grew up,
we quit our childish ways.
12 Now all we can see of God
is like a cloudy picture
in a mirror.
Later we will see him
face to face.
We don't know everything,
but then we will,
just as God completely
understands us.
13 For now there are faith,
hope, and love.
But of these three,
the greatest is love.
Obviously “love never melts” is not written in this or any other version or translation of the Bible. But the idea is thought-provoking. Let’s chase this rabbit together, shall we?
When a relationship heats up in anger or hurt, and one says something to another that raises temperatures to the boiling point, Love never melts.
When a loved one has a secret issue or a hidden problem that has been exposed to the blaring light of Truth, Love never melts.
When a storm blows in and the rain of doubt threatens to dissolve the foundation of a marriage, Love never melts.
There are so many analogies that come to mind and I could go on and on, but I think I’ve explained my point.
But one thing bears a little explanation: the love of which I speak is not a human love. Human love, based on experience and feelings and emotions is fickle, finicky, and downright unreliable.
The Love of God is True and Noble and Perfect. It is based outside of one’s own emotions, standards, or biases. It is this love, known as Agape, that never fails, forgets, holds a grudge, and yes, never melts.
And it is THIS Love that the world so desperately needs right now. God’s Love is more than understanding or condoning. It is not just accepting the differences between people and moving on. It is not proclaiming that this is right and that is wrong.
It is simply (seriously) moving and speaking and touching and doing everything with the understanding that God is God. It is shouting with every ounce of being that nothing is more or less than any other.
Simply put, it is declaring, “I will move with and in and through the Love of God.”
And that Love, my Friends, will never melt!
