Love Never Fails

Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. 1 Corinthians 13:8 (KJV)

“Love never fails.” That simple statement brings a thrill to every heart touched by it. Can it really be that there is such a Person, such a thing, as unfailing love? Oh, Beloved, how I would that you and I not only know of a surety that it is so but would experience “the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God's devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it” (Eph. 3:18 Amp).

Never (oudepote) does mean “never.” As we roll this word on our tongue and let it move through our minds we will enjoy the absoluteness of it. It is “never, neither at any time and nothing at any time.”

“Never” is followed by “fails.” This Greek word ekpipto assures us that Love will never fail. It will never cast us off and never, never be of none effect. The power and fullness of love will not diminish nor disappear ever. God’s love is so filled with ability and efficiency that it is unwilling and unable to fall from the one loved nor to lose it in the clamor of situation and circumstance.

This agape love is eternal and will never perish but will always position the one loved in the place that is otherwise impossible for him to stay in. Thus, we can understand:

For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. 2 Timothy 1:12 (KJV)

This is the divine promise of salvation to which we hold until “he shall appear, we shall be like Him; for see Him as He is” (1 Joh. 3:2).