A Love that Never Runs Out

In worship about a week or  two ago, we sang the song Your Love Never Fails.  The familiar chorus goes like this: “Your love never fails, never gives up, never runs out on me.”  It was that last part that really struck me.  “Never runs out on me…” Previous to this, when I had sung those same words, I had always pictured God’s love as a well that never goes dry.  If it were a faucet, it would never stop running.   His love is always available.  These things are all certainly true.

However, as I sang the words again, they took on new meaning for me.  God is a lover that never runs out on you.  He doesn’t bail.  He doesn’t leave.  When you mess up, when you fail, when times get hard, when you don’t know which way to go or where to turn, He is still there.  Before Jesus ascended to the Father, He told His disciples, “Surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:20).  Jesus made that possible by sending the Holy Spirit to actually dwell within His people, the same Holy Spirit that dwells inside of us!  Of the Holy Spirit, Jesus says, “But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13).

The idea of a love that doesn’t run out on you, a God that doesn’t run out on you, is a difficult concept for us to wrap our heads around.  Why?  Because that’s not how we do things.  As hard as we may try, there are always conditions and parameters around the love that we show for one another.  As a result, we have run out on others and many have run out on us.  I think the closest that we get to understanding the great love that God has for us is to imagine the love of a parent towards their child.  Parents are able to understand the sacrifice and depth of a father’s love on a different level.

How much more could you hope for and aspire to knowing that God is with you every step of the way?  I remember when I was little, I loved going to amusement parks.  I loved rollercoasters and scary rides.  On one particular occasion, I encountered a ride that I was too afraid to go on.  The ride looked like a giant spider.  Each leg carried a cart that spun through the air.  Everyone else went on while I stayed behind.  I cried about it.  I felt like a wimp.  I was defeated.  My mother saw how distressed I was over the situation and brought me back through the line and took me on the ride with her.  She knew this was a fear I needed to overcome.  She sat next to me and held me under her arm.  When the ride was over I felt like a champion!  Cue Rocky theme song music.

God does the same thing with us.  He doesn’t run out on us in our times of fear and trouble.  Instead, He takes us by the hand and walks us through it, until we become overcomers!  His love is a powerful force to be reckoned with.  Once you encounter His love there is no way that you can walk away the same.

 Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. (Song of Solomon 8:6)

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