Love is for losers?

Now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. — 1 Corinthians 13:13

You can learn a lot about a person by what his or her T-shirt says. Recently, one of these messages caught my attention as I walked through a local shopping mall. A young woman wore a bright red T-shirt that said, “Love Is for Losers.” Maybe she thought it was clever or provocative, even funny. Or perhaps she had been hurt by a relationship and had pulled away from others rather than risk being hurt again. Either way, the T-shirt got me thinking.

Is love for losers? The fact is, when we love, we take risks. People could very well hurt us. Love can lead to loss.

The Bible, though, challenges us to higher ground in loving others. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul describes what it means to live out God’s kind of love. The person who exercises godly love doesn’t do so for personal benefit or gain but rather “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (13:7). Why? Because godly love endures beyond life’s hurts by pulling us relentlessly toward the never-diminishing care of the Father.

So, perhaps love is for losers — for it is in times of loss and disappointment that we need God the most. Even in our struggles, we know that “love never fails.” — Bill Crowder

Unfailing is God’s matchless love,

So kind, so pure, so true;

And those who draw upon that love

Show love in what they do. — D. De Haan

READ: 1 Corinthians 13

God’s love never fails.

The Bible in one year:

• Psalms 10-12

• Acts 19:1-20