Love never fails

I remember praying this simple prayer: Lord, show us how much we are in need of your forgiveness, so that we may have grace upon others and impart that forgiveness to them...

At this moment something broke in the spiritual realm, and the Holy Spirit came down and enfolded me. I wept uncontrollably, as the Holy Spirit simply described the love of God to me, which may be summed up in the following:

Holy Spirit: Do you see the universe?
My spirit: Yes.

Holy Spirit: Can you fathom its bounds?
My spirit: No.

Holy Spirit: Even the universe could not contain God's love nor could it match its beauty.

Time stood still. Nothing mattered. The greatest, most powerful, wealthiest, most beautiful things of mankind ceased in their significance. I understood for the first time how love conquers all, as Paul wrote:

1 Corinthians 13

Love

¹If I speak in the tongues^a]">[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ²If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,^b]">[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. ¹¹When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. ¹²Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

LOVE NEVER FAILS... Money will fail. The most decorated warrior will fail. The smartest man will fail. The strongest athlete will fail. The most powerful will fail. Even the gifts of the Spirit "will cease." Only love will remain when the earth implodes like a dying star taking all of its inhabitants with it; when the galaxy collapses into a black hole; when the universe dies. YET LOVE WILL NEVER FAIL. The next time you encounter a situation where your life is on the verge of ruin, your enemies have surrounded you, and there appears to be no hope, remember that LOVE WILL NEVER FAIL.

This concept has also changed my idea of what it means to love your enemies and turn the other cheek. My quick response to violence is with more violence, but I must remember that LOVE WILL NEVER FAIL.

This very simple thought will change the world. It already has. And it made me weep like a small child.