Love Hopes All Things

by Chris Simmons

I Corinthians 13:4-7, “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

We need to be continually reminded that biblical love does not consist in words, feelings, or emotions but in action. Love is something we do. John wrote in I John 3:16-18, “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world’s goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.” When we express our love by hoping all things, it’s not to be expressed in feelings and emotions but in our actions and deeds.

What is hope? A common and useful way of describing hope is that it combines both desire plus expectation. In all our relationships with one another, there is to be the desire for what is best, right, and true along with the expectation that it will happen, evidenced by actions that demonstrate both. Our love for others is to be defined by our desire and expectation that they will do what’s right. Hope is represented by the glass being half full and not half empty. Love expressed through hope does not act out of pessimism but out of confident optimism and expectation – whether or not we deem it warranted or personally advantageous to do so. When Paul worked with the brethren to provide relief to the saints in Jerusalem, he spoke of the brethren in the churches of Macedonia and how that “according to their ability, and beyond their ability they gave of their own accord, begging us with much entreaty for the favor of participation in the support of the saints, and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God” (II Corinthians 8:3-5). Paul acted in love and hope as he labored to get his brethren to contribute the means needed to provide the relief that other brethren so desperately needed.

Another example of this might be seen in the relationship of Esther and Mordecai. In Esther chapter 4, we read of Mordecai’s love and hope for Esther to do the right and needful thing to go in before the king and intercede on behalf of her Jewish kinsmen. We also see love and hope manifested in the story of Ruth and her mother in law Naomi and their kinsman Boaz who Naomi both desired and expected would do what was honorable and right in God eyes and for Ruth. Again in both of these examples, we see the actions taken by Mordecai and Naomi that demonstrated the hope in their love.

Further, we see this aspect of love and hope demonstrated in the relationship of Paul and Philemon. Paul wrote to Philemon about a former slave of his named Onesimus who had fled from Philemon but somewhere along the way had been taught, and obeyed the gospel and was now working with Paul for the cause of Jesus Christ. Paul wrote to petition that Philemon might grant to Onesimus the freedom to continue his work in the Lord with Paul. In doing so, Paul hoped all things from Philemon as we read in Philemon 21-22, “Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you, since I know that you will do even more than what I say. At the same time also prepare me a lodging, for I hope that through your prayers I will be given to you.” Paul expressed his desire when he tactfully laid forth his argument as to why Philemon should grant his request for Onesimus and then fulfilled his love when he shared his expectation that Philemon would not only do what he had asked for, but “even more.”

But how much more should our love for God be characterized by our hope, trust, and confidence that He will do what He has promised and what is best for us. When we love God in such a manner, we won’t hesitate to commit to Him our life, our soul, and all that we are as Paul wrote to Timothy in I Timothy 4:10, “For it is for this (the promise of the life to come, verse 8) we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.”

In a church such as Corinth where so much division existed among the brethren, it was so necessary that they be taught about love and how that it “hopes all things.” We likewise are exhorted to act with our brethren in such a way that demonstrates our desire and expectation that love demands of us. At home, both husbands and wives need to demonstrate their love by hoping all things and acting in such a way that demonstrates our expectation that we will fulfill the responsibilities God has given us within the family. All too often husbands and wives act out of doubt and pessimism (rather than hope and optimism) towards each other and that’s not love! Too often Christians expect the worst of their brethren rather than their love prompting them to act in hope. Do we find ourselves thinking or saying things such as “I knew they’d let me down” or “I was expecting them to fail”? Love that hopes all things will cause us to believe that our brethren will be there to support us, encourage us, and overcome rather than fail.

We often say that love is a choice and that is true. But more than a choice, it’s an expectation and command of God. Our family, brethren, or neighbors need for us to love them enough that even when they are difficult, obstinate or even rebellious, that we will never give up hope that they repent and change and become more and more Christ-like. And when they do repent and change, let us not meet their confession and repentance with cynicism and a jaded eye but love them and indeed hope for the best. For when we love like that, we ourselves are also growing to be more like our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Loving is hoping and hoping is seeing the potential and the best in everyone we meet.