Love never fails.

— 1 Corinthians 13:8

It is hard to believe, but arranged marriages, for example, those in India, have often fared much better than marriages in the West based on romantic notions of love.

What these people have learned—that we often have forgotten or have been deceived about—is that love is not some exotic bird that comes flapping down with its wings and sets our hearts aflutter and then disappears just as mysteriously. But love, as 1 Corinthians 13 tells us, is a way of treating other people. There is not an emotion in that whole chapter—but there is instruction about how to deal with people. “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way” (13:4-5 ESV).

Those who truly love have learned that when people treat other people the right way, that feeling we call “love” will develop. We may have that feeling in great abundance before we are married. However, if we treat our spouse in some contrary manner, we will find, before long, that the mysterious bird has flapped his wings and flown away. Then we say, “Alas, what can we do? There is naught left but the divorce court, because, you see, I don’t love him anymore,” or “I don’t love her anymore. It’s not there any longer. It is gone. It’s dead.”

That is all “a bunch of baloney.” We have been fed a lie, and we have believed it. We have based our whole society on the romanticist concept of love and in so doing we have rejected the biblical teaching about the subject.

Question to ponder:
What can you do to strengthen the commitment you have toward your spouse?