IS ANYTHING OR ANYONE DEPENDABLE?

BIBLE PASSAGE:
“Love never fails. But where there are prophecies,
they will cease; where there are tongues, they will
be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.”
(1 Corinthians 13:8)

MEDITATION:
Have you ever thought to yourself,
    “Is there anything or anyone I can really depend on?”

We live in a world of busyness that can create stress and selfishness
due to time constraints. As a result, it may be difficult to find folks
who are dependable. Some people who have the best intentions, can
often get distracted, or too busy to follow through with any promises
they have made to others.

How many times have you been disappointed by someone who
said they were going to do something, but never did? It may be
something small that they volunteered to do (something you
didn’t even ask them to do), but for whatever reason they failed
to follow through.

Many times, others don’t even apologize, or explain why they let
you down, unless you ask them why they didn’t follow through.
It can be discouraging, and cause us to wonder about the depth
of our friendships.

Our emotions and self-esteem can be severely impacted by unfulfilled
promises. Sometimes it can cause us to think that our friendship is not
valued as much by others as it is to us. When we hear about someone
dropping everything to help someone else, but they ignored failed to
keep their promises to us, we can have a feeling of worthlessness.

The scriptures tell us, we can’t depend on manmade prophecies.
We cannot depend on the promises (tongues) of others, and our
own knowledge is not reliable (long lasting). But we are also
told that ‘love never fails’. What an uplifting statement to see!

Love helps us to overcome our own failures. How is that? When love
is present, we have the capacity to remember our promises to others,
and to follow through on them. Love can serve as a reminder for us to
avoid disappointing others. When love is present, we can’t forget the
promises we have made, even during the busyness in our lives.

Love causes us to set aside our own desires and respect the needs of
others, especially if we have told them we will do something for them.
Love helps us realize that whenever we tell someone we would ‘like’
to do something for them, they can often view it as a promise that we
‘will’ do it.

Love teaches to exercise wisdom before speaking, and especially
when the things we say will have an impact on others. Our words
can affect our credibility and our relationship with others.

For instance, we might say,
    “Call me if you need anything”
It sounds nice, but we say it, we may be thinking,
    “They don’t really need anything, and even if
      they do, they will call someone else and not me”

We need to remember the kind of love God has for mankind. Did
He ever make a promise that He failed to fulfill? Of course not!
We know that whenever God makes a statement, we can depend
on Him, not just sometimes, but always!

Does that mean that when others disappoint us, they are lacking
love? The answer to that question is,
    it probably depends on the individual and the type
    of relationship they have with us, with others, and
    with the Lord.

We need to remember that love is an ‘action’ word. This means
we will allow love to govern our words and the things we do.

For instance, if we tell someone,
    “If you need anything, let me know”,
we need to say it with an expectation that they ‘will’ let us know.
And when they do, we need to be prepared to adjust our schedules
and priorities as necessary, so we can respond to their requests.

When love is present, we will put our own desires ‘on hold’ so that
we can follow through on our promises to others. Love will remind
us that our comments are often perceived as promises to others. If
we are sincere with our offers, then we won’t be guilty of saying
something like,
    “I would love to help you
      but I need to (fill in the blank) right now”

Of course, we could be sick or have pre-scheduled appointments
that we must honor (doctor, dentist, etc.) which conflict with our
desire to help them. But, when we don’t have any conflicts, we
should have a willingness to change our plans, or postpone them,
so we can accommodate the needs of others who assumed that we
are dependable and believed us when we offered to help them.

Remember the scriptures tell us that ‘love never fails’. Love includes
loyalty, respect, and a sincere concern for the importance of the needs
and feelings of others. Love is dependable, honest, deep, sincere, patient,
long lasting, and responsible. It is consistent, and can overlook the faults
of others regardless of their actions, including how they receive, respond
and return our expressions of love.

ACTION:
Have you made unfulfilled promises? Do you say things with good
intentions, but fail to follow through them? Is love an active part of
your life? Does the level of your love depend on the actions of the
other person, or is it sincere and consistent?

Is God’s love dependent on our actions? Get a Bible concordance or
use the internet and see how many times love is mentioned in the Bible.
Then, compare what you read about love in God’s Word, to the type of
love that exists in you.

One of the Bible applications I found showed that ‘love’ is mentioned
686 times in the Bible. With it included that many times, we know that
in God’s eyes, it’s an important characteristic for us to have when we
are followers of His Son, Jesus.

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, thank You for the love You have for me.
Thank You for the consistency and dependability of Your
love. Even if others disappoint me, I am confident that You
love me explicitly. Teach me how to love others in the same
manner that You love me. Show me how to have a dependable
love. Guide me in developing a life controlled by love, so others
will know that I mean what I say, and I say what I mean. Help
me to think before speaking, so others can be sure that what I
say is sincere, honest, heartfelt, and reliable. Teach me to know
the importance of showing genuine love to others”

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