NT 5: The One Thing That Never Fails

A lot of things in our lives are going to fail.
Money fails. Banks fail.
Relationships fail.
Our efforts fail.
We may fail to get a job, or we may fail to keep one.
Often our foresight fails.
Sometimes our hearts fail.

But even if we feel like we are failing or if we are having trouble enduring the storms of life, we don't ever need to give up.

Because charity never fails.

All things must fail.
But charity endures forever.
It never fails.

Charity doesn't stop things from failing, but it does mean that even when things fail in our lives, which they surely will, the pure love of Christ will never fail us. It is something we can depend upon when our world is shaking.

Maybe though, we don't feel like a failure. Maybe we realize that we are doing pretty good. But we all feel at times that we need something to keep us going, to give us hope, and endure the seemingly impossible and weighty journey ahead--in the next day, or the next week, or maybe the next year.

Christ's pure love can carry us through and it will help others carry through.
We need charity in ever aspect of our lives--in our relationships, in our families, with our friends, at work, and in our church callings. We will feel the love of the Lord as we seek for that in our own lives and use it to bless others.

This love will help us suffer long--and help others to suffer long.
It will help us to feel the loving kindness of the Lord and share that kindness with others.
It will help us to envy not, to not vaunt ourselves, to not be puffed up.
It will help us behave.
It will help us to seek out others needs, rather than our own.
When others provoke us, it will help us not be provoked.
And it will keep us from thinking evil from another.

Faith, hope, and charity. Why is the greatest of all charity? Because it gives faith and hope meaning. Even having the faith that moves mountains is nothing without charity. Without the pure love of Christ, we are nothing.

I love the talk Broken Things to Mend, in which Jeffrey R. Holland said, "Soon, with that kind of love, we realize our days hold scores of thoroughfares leading to the Master and that every time we reach out, however feebly, for Him, we discover that He has been anxiously trying to reach us. So we step, we strive, we seek, and we never yield."

I love this. With charity, we realize that even with our smallest efforts, the Lord will pour His love over us so that we may continue on. Instead of looking at life as impossible, we can look at it with hope.

So even if banks fail, relationships fail, our sight or our hearts fail--
His pure love never does.