A college man walked into a photography studio to have a framed picture of his girlfriend duplicated. When the photographer took the picture apart, he noticed an inscription written on the back of the photograph that read, “My dearest Tom, I love you with all of my heart. I will love you forever and am yours for eternity.”
The inscription was signed, “Diane” and contained a P.S. “If we ever break up, I want this picture back!”
Now there is some real love, right?
Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13 that real love never fails. “Fails” means “collapses, falls, or disintegrates.” True love is God’s love – a love we cannot understand or explain in human terms. God’s love has no “PS” in it.
God’s love doesn’t collapse under the weight of testing.
No matter how scorching the fires of life may be, God’s love does not disintegrate.
When a circumstance rattles the foundation of our lives, God’s love never lets us fall.
The life of the Old Testament prophet Hosea powerfully illustrates this kind of love. Hosea was a godly man – a prophet. I’m sure he dreamed of having a wife who was also a seeker of God, someone with whom he could share God’s calling on his life. Those dreams were shattered when Hosea heard the voice of God say, “The Lord said to him, ‘Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.’ So, he married Gomer, daughter of Diblaim,” (Hosea 1:2-3).
Not exactly the kind of marriage announcement Hosea had anticipated or wanted. But because Hosea was a godly man, he obeyed the direction of God and married Gomer. Together, they had three children.
When Hosea heard rumors about Gomer, his heart began to break. His wife was sleeping with other men. In fact, Hosea could not even be sure the children they had were his.
