- Love protects:
The phrase protects all things comes from a Greek word meaning to cover something. It is related to the word for roof, a covering that offers protection from the hostile elements. Peter says that love covers a multitude of sins (1 Pet. 4:8). That is precisely the meaning here. Love protects other people. It doesn’t broadcast bad news. It goes a second mile to protect another person’s reputation. Love doesn’t criticize in public. Paul’s primary meaning. Perhaps is that Love doesn’t do its dirty laundry for the entire world to see. If a husband humiliates his wife in public or a wife makes snide remarks about her husband, it is terrible to think that what they do in private?
- Love trusts:
Love is always ready to allow for justifying circumstances, to give the other person the benefit of the doubt, to believe the best about people. Many of us have developed a certain distrust for people because of negative experiences. We have heard stories about how the person who stopped to help a motorist, in distress was robbed or even murdered. We have been warned never to loan money to someone without a legal document guaranteeing repayment, even if the other guy is a Christian. But there are worse things than gullibility viz. suspicion and mistrust. Love always trusts. It is also useful to remember that even in a court of law the accused person is always “innocent until proven guilty.” Love says, “I am willing to wait for the evidence to come in before making my decision. I choose to give you the benefit of the doubt as long as there is reason to do so.” Some of us treat our loved ones in nearly the opposite way: “You are guilty until you prove you are innocent.”
Ex: If you treat our wife as if she is the most beautiful woman in the world, she will be transformed before your very eyes. That’s what Jesus did. To a confused Simon, He said, “You are a rock.” To a prostitute, He said, “Your sins are forgiven.” To a woman caught in adultery, He said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” It is the simple power of believing the best and not the worst about people.
- Love hopes:
This is simply a step beyond believing. Whenever we face very difficult situations, there is no need to give up saying that there was nothing to hope. Here Paul is not advocating an unreasoning optimism, which fails to take account of reality nor is he just teaching the power of positive thinking. But he is suggesting that love refuses to take failure as final, either in oneself or in someone else. Love never gives up on people. Love has a positive forward look. The best reason one should believe in the hope that God is in the business of taking human failures and producing spiritual giants out of them. And He can do it with us or our child. Of course, “always hoping” doesn’t mean that we sit back and just watch God do His thing. Rather it means that we get actively involved in the process as He moulds the future according to His perfect plan. Love hopes and expects the best. Love never loses faith in other people or gives up on them but remain faithful to them, in spite of their shortcomings.
- Love perseveres:
The word “perseveres” means to hold a position at all costs, even unto death like a military soldier. The battle may be lost but the soldier keeps on fighting to the very end. The word pictures an army surrounded by superior forces, being attacked and slowly overwhelmed on every side. One by one our comrades fall at our side. Through the noise of battle comes one final command: “Stand your ground, men. And if necessary, die well.” So love holds fast to people it loves. It perseveres. It never gives up on anyone. Love won’t stop loving, even in the face of rejection. Love takes action to shake up an intolerable situation. Love looks beyond the present to the hope of what might be in the future.