If Love Never Fails, Why Do Marriages?

There is a scripture in the Bible from I Corinthians 13:8, that very simply says that love never fails. Well, if love never fails, how is it that our marriages are failing to the rate of about one out of every two in America? Something about our love definition does not seem to match that of the Bible. This article will look at love and marriage from a more traditional view. That tradition is from the Bible. I am going into this discussion with a belief that the Bible is the truth and not a lie. If we can agree or even consider the Bible to be the Word of God (for the sake of this discussion) then I believe that we can come to a logical conclusion in this area of love and marriage.

When we look at our culture today, although people say that they love each other, we are more and more hard-pressed to find love that actually lasts. You may go into a marriage and survive one, five, or maybe even 10 years, but eventually there is a call for a divorce. That divorce may occur for many reasons. Some reasons may be justified due to infidelity or the abuse of a spouse or a child. However, more times than not, divorce seems to be rooted in some vague catch phrase like irreconcilable differences. What is that? What differences can't be reconciled if love is truly present? Jesus stated it this way: "Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."

True love carries with it a strong commitment and even a sacrificial element. It carries a sense that I am in this relationship just as much for your well-being as I am for my own. If our love were based more on the love that Jesus describes, maybe our love would truly last. True love is selfless, but we have tried to define it as selfish. But God's kind of love, as demonstrated when Jesus died for us, is effective and powerful. Again, I believe the Bible to be true. Love never fails. But we fail when we choose to be self-centered and only interested in what makes us happy. Maybe the answer is simple. We should only use the term love when we are ready to commit and sacrifice on behalf of another. I believe that this would help us stay focused on the reality of a God kind of love that is deeper and stronger than what we usually refer to as love in many of our marriages. I still believe that the Word is true. Love never fails.