Never Meant to End

Think back to when you first fell in love. Back when the skies were bluer, the birds were singing your song, and life was better just seeing their face or hearing their voice. Love is beautiful bliss that can't be contained. Remember wanting to shout your new-found love from the rooftops?

And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, 

how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, 

you will deny me three times.”

And he went out and wept bitterly. 

Luke 22:61-62

Love changes overtime. Eventually, it becomes work. Challenges and obstacles begin to cloud your view of why you fell in love in the first place. The person you used to proudly show off to family, friends, and even strangers can become your source of embarrassment or anger as your tolerance holds on by a thread.

This may or may not describe your own personal relationship, but it does describe many relationships across the country. It also mirrors the relationship between Jesus and his disciples on the night of His betrayal. Jesus was their leader. Their hope of victory and their promised Savior. These men loved Jesus, and were proud to be called His disciples. Yet confidence turned to fear. Pride turned to embarrassment. They fled. And Peter, who just hours prior told Jesus “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death” (Luke 22:33) now found himself denying he even knew who Jesus was. 

"Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, 

I will also confess him before my Father who is in Heaven. 

But whoever denies Me before men, I will also 

deny him before My Father who is in Heaven."

Matthew 10:32-33

Yes, love changes. The Jesus who once transformed my life isn't always on my heart and tongue. I have passed up too many opportunities to share Him with the lost for the sake of comfort or convenience. There are days when my prayer and study of the Word feel dry. Seasons when He feels distant. But Jesus doesn't want to mirror our human love. He isn't a flame meant to ignite within us only to be blown out over time. We are never meant to lose sight of why He captured our hearts in the first place. He is eternal and so is the intimacy He feels for His people. The ones He died to save even as He was beaten, humiliated and denied by them. We are no different than the people of Jesus' day. But we have been given the incredible gift that lives and dwells within us as New Testament believers. We are not limited to the flesh, but rather filled with His Spirit:

For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power 

and love and discipline. Therefore do not be ashamed

 of the testimony of our Lord...but join with me in suffering 

for the gospel according to the power of God.

2 Timothy 1:7-8

I encourage you to read the first paragraph again. Go ahead, I'll wait...

No matter the depth of love we feel, or once felt toward our spouse, it never remains as it once was. Two sinful human beings can't honeymoon for a lifetime. But may our love relationship with Christ never waver from a state of bliss. Never become an embarrassment. May He always be our joy and sense of renewal. May He quench our thirst and ease our soul. He is more than enough. He can heal any broken heart, and fix any damaged life.

And as we draw nearer to Christ in love, our Earthly relationships will feel the impact.