Some people love new things. What really makes me happy are old things lasting forever. I’m drawn to them, hang on to things oftentime past their usefulness, and if something does break I’ll fix it. If I can’t fix something I think to myself that it was cheap and should have lasted longer.
I could site a plethora of examples: 22 year old t-shirts (yes, plural-they were left over from a youth activity), all of my vehicles, tools that I use which were my grandfathers, my 1964 Oliver tractor, old work boots, and even my hunting clothes. It’s my hunting clothes that made me think of this blog post. I know the collar of my one shirt is ratty, and the elastic is shot in my “Florida” horse sweats but these are the hunting clothes that I know and love. I know exactly which order to put them on, even in the dark bedroom, so I can be out in the woods at oh-dark-thirty. I also don’t have to guess how many layers to wear for a certain temperature, I just know.
Despite me getting put out, it does seem that nothing lasts forever. Even I have to throw broken things away. Even as I watch people around me get older and some of them pass away it makes me wish that people didn’t “break.” Is there nothing that lasts forever?
Paul says in 1 Corinthians that “these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. “ (1 Corinthians 13:13 NIV)
Of these three, the first two change. They don’t “break” per se, but they do change. My study Bible says this:
“Faith” and “hope are by nature imperfect, because they mature into “knowledge” when the thing believed in or hoped for is reached. Love does not turn into something else but, when mature, remains love.”
Think about it. When we get to heaven will you need faith? The Bible says that “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1 NIV) We won’t need faith when we have heaven and all of it’s glories right before our very eyes. And in regards to hope the Bible says that “hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” (Romans 8:24-25 NIV) You don’t hope for a hamburger if you have one in front of you. You only hope for what you don’t have yet.
Oh, but love! Here we have something that doesn’t go out of style, it doesn’t get rusty, it doesn’t leak, it doesn’t crack, it just simply doesn’t break. Paul puts it even better:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails…Now 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. (1 Corinthians 13: 4-8a, 12 NIV)
Love lasts forever, and that makes me happy.
gregarnett 