Love Suffers Long

 

Edmund Morris, in his book, “Theodore Rex,” wrote the following about President Theordore Roosevelt and his wife, Edith (p.451). “Teddy Roosevelt’s attitude toward Edith - beyond the fact that they personified every syllable of the marriage vow - as one of dog-like adoration he looked to her for porch company, for approving pats and hugs, and sometimes, guiltily, for discipline when he had done something wrong. She could bring him up short, during one of his indiscreet monologues, by giving off a special quietness that he could sense within seconds. Roosevelt often outraged her sense of propriety. ‘You only have to live with me,’ she periodically reminded him, ‘while I have to live with you.’”

Her statement brings to mind Bible words about love we don’t often hear in modern music, movies, etc. By the Spirit of God in 1 Corinthians 13:4, the apostle Paul wrote, “Love suffers long…” Some translations say, “Love is patient…,” ad that is certainly true, for the Greek term makrothumei (from makros) means “to be long-spirited, forbearing, patient.” The word also means to “be longsuffering, have long patience, patiently endure.” And so, the King James is right to translate it, “Charity suffereth long…” If it’s the real McCoy, love suffers. And, if circumstances call for it, love suffers long. Important to remember since you have to live with me, and I with you!

[Genesis 29:1-30] (v.20) “So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her.” Jacob no doubt had deep feelings for Rachel, but his love was more than a fleeting and flimsy feeling based on instant gratification. One of the worse things we have come to believe about love is that it is supposed to always feel good, or more pointedly, is supposed to always make me feel good. We talk about “falling in love” like love is an accident that people have no choice and control over. So popular thinking says, if we “fall in” love, we may also “fall out” (and then walk out) of it through no fault of our own. Traditional wedding vows ask the marrying couple to love each other “for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness as in health.” Sadly, many love only until suffering sets in, and often very slight suffering at that. Parents, help your children to prepare for a happy, enduring marriage by modeling love that suffers long.

Fred Smith wrote about being in a donut shop in Grand Saline, Texas. “A young farm couple was sitting at the table next to mine. He was wearing overalls and she, a simple gingham dress. After finishing their donuts, he got up to pay the bill, and I noticed she didn’t follow him. But then he came back and stood in front of her. She put her arms around his neck, and he lifted her up, revealing that she was wearing a full-body brace. He lifted her out of the chair and backed out the front door to the pick-up truck, with her hanging around his neck. As he gently put her in the truck, everyone in the shop watched. No one said anything until a waitress remarked, almost reverently, ‘He took his vows seriously.’”

[1 Peter 2:0-24] The cross of Christ reminds us that in any human relationship, true love is willing to suffer long. “But for what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps …who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness - by whose strips you were healed.”