Immense Suffering and Love: How Love Prevails Through the Hard Times

[love] bears all things...endures all things. Love never fails -1 Corinthians 13:7-8 (NASB)

Many sufferings in life try to convince us that we should quit, but the love of God brings endurance that enables us to persevere through all things.

As I reflect on the impact of what this means, I clearly realize the many sufferings people endure and are overcome by: relationship strife, persecution, marginalization, unemployment, betrayal, sickness, financial strain, inequality, educational inability, poverty, addiction, imprisonment, and so much more. However, I also realize the sufficiency of God's love in these moments. That God can meet anyone in these moments with his love and empower them to endure and overcome. Romans 5:3-5 illustrates:

We also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

 It is within the midst of life's most difficult times that God's love brings hope that does not disappoint. The fuel of hope is the love of God; it is his love that "never fails." 

The importance of this cannot be understated. Often, when life becomes uncomfortably difficult we attempt to self-medicate with lesser things than the love of God; however, scripture is admonishing us to strengthen ourselves in the love of God, so that we may endure and overcome. 

Love is Greater

The American church is in a crisis. Gallupreports that Americans attending church and identifying themselves will a religious affiliation is at an all-time low. As a result of this, churches are also closing their doors which results in fewer churches to combat this decline. 

I am convinced the church is in decline because she does not know how to endure and overcome by God's love. As Americans, we see suffering as inconvenient, uncomfortable, and unreasonable. It is during these moments that we often self-medicate with the American love of immediate and maximum comfort and miss the opportunity to experience God's love. Instead of enduring in God's unfailing love we turn away from God not understanding why we are suffering and even blame him for our suffering. 

Some of the greatest characters in the Bible show us how to endure in God's love and the profound result that followed.

Human Suffering	God’s Result
Joseph sold by his brothers	Becomes Pharaoh’s right hand man, saves his own family and the known world from famine
David’s trials in the wilderness running from Saul	Preparation to be King of Israel
Jesus enduring the cross	Resurrection and atonement for all sins
Stephen the martyr	Revival of the 1st century church
John the Baptist’s imprisonment	Book of Revelation written

Throughout Biblical narrative we see examples of God’s people facing very egregious circumstances, yet they endured by God’s love and saw a greater victory. I believe there are three virtues we can draw from these character’s examples: 1) vision, 2) integrity, 3) authenticity.

Three Virtues of Love

As Christians, if we are to endure sufferings in love, then it would benefit us to understand how other Biblical characters before us endured. The three virtues mentioned above can provide some guidance, strength, and clarity for enduring in love. 

Having vision means that we see things correctly; this does not always mean that we see things as they are. Meaning, if the Biblical characters mentioned above only saw things as they were then they would have fallen into despair, lost hope, and would have not been resilient enough to endure their trails. They simply would have seen their situations as the dominant influence in their life. 

Vision, while suffering, allows us to see beyond the influence of suffering and into the love and glory of God. Vision does not ignore the painful reality, but it also does not allow it to be the dominating influence. Contrary, vision allows God’s love to be the dominating influence. For instance, during Stephen’s stoning he saw an open heaven and the glory of God (Acts 7:55-56) to which he would later say to his persecutors, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” (Acts 7:60). Vision enabled Stephen to see the love and glory of God during the height of his suffering. This same vision allowed Stephen to bless his persecutors and plead for mercy on their behalf as they were in the midst of killing him. 

Secondly, is love’s virtue of integrity. Michael Ramsden of RZIM and Oxford’s Centre for Christian Apologetic's describes integrity as wholeness and integration. Meaning, there is an absoluteness at all times, in all things, without compromise. Having integrity within suffering means that the love of God cannot be invalidated by suffering. In the case of Stephen’s martyrdom he was not being antagonistic toward his persecutors, he was simply being who he was at all times, in all things, without compromise. 

As modern Christians we need to adopt this same sense of integrity. Current culture, politics, and dead religious systems try to divide the character of a Christianity in the name of inclusion. The problem with this is that the character of Christianity cannot be divided. This simply means that modern Christians need to be the same at all times, in all things, without compromise. This does not mean that Christians should go on an ideological war-path to maintain integrity. It does mean that we should live like Jesus toward the world through service and speak “the truth in love” (Eph 4:15). 

The last virtue of love is authenticity. If love is truthful, it also has to be authentic. Love is not afraid to be true and it is also unafraid of being real in people’s lives. Jesus is a great example. He, in love, did not simply talk about the truth, he also presented or represented love to the world. There was a power of love toward the world within Jesus’ love. Jesus had the message of the Gospel, but he also had the power of the Gospel to demonstrate God’s love to the world. His love had transformational impacts in the lives of those he encountered. The authenticity of love will have a transformational impact in the lives of others. 

How does this type of authenticity endure through suffering? In keeping with Jesus as our example, we see that Jesus, in his suffering on the cross, had a joy set before him (Heb 12:2). It was the love of God that allowed him to endure, and not only endure but also bless and forgive his persecutors (Luke 23:33-43). The power of Jesus’ authenticity produced joy in the face of humanities greatest suffering, and even bless those who were torturing him till death.

Love Never Quits

The main message of suffering is—stop it! Stop the suffering, stop the pain, and stop the source of suffering. Most people can endure a certain threshold of suffering, but there comes a point that suffering surpasses that threshold. The question is, what is strong enough to sustain us when suffering? Hopefully, the above examples show how the love of God brings endurance and perseverance through suffering.