Don’t you just love it when something doesn’t meet your expectations? Isn’t it even better when that something is a person? As a boy I was sent by my father to find a yard tool in a room in the basement. I went and looked for it as well as a seven-year-old looks for something. After scanning the room, I returned to my dad empty-handed. He went down with me in tow, walked into the room, and proceeded to find it in no time. It was right there in the corner in plain view… even the view of a seven-year-old. My dad grabbed the item, and as we walked out of the room said, “David, you could have found that. You failed me.” I think that was the first time I heard those words. I’m sure it wasn’t the first time I had come up short in a task, but it was the first time he had said that to me. I was crushed. I would have jumped out of a window, but we were in the basement… so what’s the point?

That failure did not wreck our relationship or send me into a lifetime of depression. But the realization that I let my father down did sting a bit. I remember the conversation and the feeling of failure. It was the same feeling I have experienced when I have a piece of equipment that I really want to work, and at the most crucial time, it doesn’t. Failure is never received well, and it shouldn’t be. Failure is an imposition at best, and tragic at worst. When brakes fail, people can die. When a military strategy fails, evil can progress. When people fail in a marriage, the long-term effects are staggering. Where the expectations are higher, failure is more damaging.

To fail is to stop functioning normally, or to be unsuccessful, to disappoint the expectations or trust of another, or to be deficient in. There is much failure in our world. So much so that we have almost come to expect it.

What this world needs is more things and people that will succeed. I have a friend who would always talk about the old days and how differently things were made. He may buy a widget at the store and it would break in the first year. He would point to his refrigerator and say, “That is older than you, and it is still cold.” He loved to talk about the older things in his life that succeeded, and would shake his head at newer things that failed.

At the beginning of the Church age, the apostle Paul wrote to a new group of believers and encouraged them to love as Christ loves. He described love, telling them what it is, and what it isn’t. The last thing he said in the description of love is, “Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 13:8) Wow… love never fails. Now you may be thinking to yourself, “Ha… love has failed me plenty.” But really, love has never failed you. People may have failed you. You may have failed yourself. But love has never failed you. Love never fails. If there is failure in a relationship, it is because one or both of the people failed, not because love failed.

Paul wasn’t saying that people can’t mess up or are not capable of failing. We are. We do. What he was saying is that love is a positive action. It cannot fail because success cannot fail. Love is a successful trait. Winning never fails. Encouragement never fails. Peace never fails. Love never ceases to work. Whenever you love, it accomplishes its task. Whether or not someone receives it or not is another thing. But love never fails to do what it is designed to do.

Today someone will need you to succeed in love. If you love, you will succeed. If you love, love will succeed. What others do with your success is on them, but the last thing you want to hear is your Father say, “You failed me in the love department.” You may not succeed at many things in life which won’t matter. But you can always succeed in loving, because love never fails.

[Bible quotes are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.]

Find more of David’s work at Heart Of Ministry.

One of the toys I had as a kid was ‘Stretch Armstrong’. He was a poseable action figure like no other. Some may call him a doll. The haters. But I will tell you this. Stretch wasn’t like a fragile porcelain doll. I don’t remember if Armstrong belonged to me or my brother. Sometimes we would argue over it… which was fine. I would get one arm, he would get the other, and we would pull as hard as we could. Poor Armstrong’s body would be distorted beyond reason. When we were done pulling, there Stretch would be, normal size torso, legs, and head… but arms stretched out beyond reason. Then over the next couple of minutes he would go back to normal size. He was literally amazing. He was tough. You could stand on him, wrap him around a chair, and throw him against the side of the house. It didn’t seem to phase him. It was very difficult to pull him out of shape, but Stretch Armstrong was certainly the most durable fake man I ever knew.

A little history on Stretch for those of you unfortunate kiddos who didn't know him. - Stretch Armstrong was an action figure in the shape of a short, well-muscled blonde man wearing a black speedo. The doll's most notable feature was that it could be stretched from its original size (about 15 inches) to four or five feet. (If a tear did develop, it could be fixed with an adhesive bandage.) Stretch Armstrong is made of latex rubber filled with gelled corn syrup, which allows it to retain shape for a short time before shrinking to its original shape. [Wikipedia]

Some things are durable. They retain their shape. They hold up under pressure. They are strong. They just last. Do whatever you want to them, and they just don’t break. They don’t fade. They don’t disintegrate under strain. They are built to last, and they last. You’ve probably seen these products late at night on TV infomercials. The host takes the item and tries to break it. He takes a hammer to it. He drives over it with a truck. He submerges it in water. No matter what he does, the item is not phased. It comes back looking as good as ever… and working as good as new.

Endurance is a very desirable trait in products. It is also a desirable trait in people, and relationships. Durability is built into some things, like vehicles. It is inherent in other things, like granite. Often times we try to match in manufacturing what God did in nature. Durability is important because it speaks to quality and value. You don’t want to have to buy new pots and pans after every meal. A pot that couldn’t endure heat would be a waste. An umbrella that could not endure water would be a horrible investment. A friend that is only good through the good times and up to the first struggle would not be worth having.

To endure is to undergo something as a hardship, especially without giving in; and to continue in the same state… to remain firm under suffering or misfortune without yielding. You want the things you buy to endure the test of time. You want your people to do the same thing. Psssttt… they want the same out of you.

The apostle Paul understood this. So when he wrote about the topic of love to the first generation of Christians he said this, “Love endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:7) Love goes through it, and comes out on the other side… usually better. Love has endurance. It must, or it isn’t true love. Paul knew a bit about love and endurance. He loved Jesus, and went through shipwrecks, beatings, sickness, and even death in order to serve the One he loved. Paul also loved people, and endured the same things to serve them. Along the way he was bitten by poisonous snakes, and poisonous people. It didn’t change him in a negative way.

Each of us will be tested by life and by people… and yes, by God. Our durability will be put on trial. When you are twisted, stretched, beat down, and submerged, will you endure, or will you fall apart? Today, will you endure those people in your life who it seems are put there to break your love? Sometimes people just want to see if what you have is natural, or if it is manufactured.

Sometimes we treat love like it is a porcelain doll, best admired when set on a shelf away from any chance of trouble. But can I tell you that love is more like Stretch Armstrong? It is to be used, pulled at, and twisted, so it can prove its value in our lives. Will you be a china doll today, or a Stretch Armstrong? Stretch worked because of the mixture of materials in him. The same is true with you and your love.

[Bible quotes are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.]

Find more of David’s work at Heart Of Ministry.

The only reason some relationships last is because one person has a desire and expectation that it can. This hope is all that some people have. All evidence may say that things are or should be over. But one person will simply not let go of the idea that it can go forward. These are the heroes.

To hope is ‘to cherish a desire with anticipation’. It is to want something enough that actually you believe it will happen… especially something that is improbable. We hope for a lot of things in our lives. We hope we will get a promotion. We hope we don’t have cancer. We hope our child will grow up well. We hope our marriage will survive a storm. These are things we want. We desire them to the point where we expect them to happen. Some people think we are crazy to have some improbable expectations. I think it is crazy to not have improbable expectations. But we know that if we lose hope, or give up our expectations that something good will happen, we are turning off the light in life.

Show me a person without hope, and I will show you a person in deep trouble. Some people do struggle with hope because they have seen so many things go wrong in their life. They decide to not long for better things ahead. But hope isn’t based on what we see. It is based on what we desire. And desire starts in the heart, which is the same place love starts. In fact, hope and love are intertwined. If you find a man’s desire or the things he loves, you find his hope. Hope is the forecast of love.

Perhaps this is why the apostle Paul when explaining love to the early Christians wrote, “Love hope all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:7) Hope is part of a struggle of passions. When circumstances are trying to drown you, or your relationships, love exhibits hope that things will work out. There is a tug of war going on in our lives. Light and darkness are the opponents. If you read the entire 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians, you find that for the believer, love is the primary force. So in this tug of war, love flexes its hope muscle to pull hard on the rope. That which would be lost to despair and doubt is seen by hope. Hope gives rise to faith in our lives. And faith is expressed through love. It has been said that, “Hope sees the invisible. Faith secures the invisible. And love shows the invisible.”

The fact that something is invisible does not mean it doesn’t exist. It simply means it cannot be seen with the natural eyes. Hope sees these things. That’s why when people would say to Jesus that someone was dead, He would give them hope by telling them what He saw… “They are only sleeping.” If we are to love others, we should be giving them hope. Today you will have the opportunity to share hope with others. Often times it is the last but of light in someone’s life, and one of the clearest ways of showing love. Share it well and share it often.

[Bible quotes are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.]

Find more of David’s work at Heart Of Ministry.

People who exhibit faith are good people to have in your life. You know how it is when a new season in your life begins. There are three different types of people. There are those who don’t care one way or another. There are those who are negative about the change. And there are those who believe the best about whatever is happening. I don’t know about you, but I’ll take what’s behind door number three every time.

I think we all have to fight the tendency to immediately focus on the negative. Some of us especially seem to be gifted in the area of trouble-shooting, and that causes us to look for the problems that stand in the way of success. But this should not define our outlook in life and relationships. If we really want to impact others for the better, we need to find the best and believe in it.

You shouldn’t cover your eyes to the reality of weakness and problems. But if you want to have the greatest influence in the lives of those around you, you will choose to have faith and confidence in what God is doing. There is no area of life into which God has not spoken and is not working. The question becomes, are we with God on the good that He is doing, or will we bypass that and only find fault. What will we see? What will we believe?

The apostle Paul, when defining and describing love to the early Christians wrote, “Love believes all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:7) He wasn’t saying that love is gullible. He was saying that love brings faith in the best possible scenario to the table. Love chooses to believe rather than disbelieve. We don’t know how everything is going to turn out in someone’s life. So we get to choose how we will view their situation through the eyes of God.

Some have said that this is about believing the best in every situation. I’m good with that. Remember, Biblical faith is not believing in something that doesn’t exist. It is a choice to believe something exists when you can’t see it. Today you will have an opportunity to act in love by believing the best for someone in your life. Sure, you can immediately speak forth negative comments. You can criticize their opportunities. You can cut down their actions. That doesn’t take love. That simply takes a tongue. Or you can choose to believe all things. In the face of dire situations, you can be the person who believes God is going to turn things around. When they get a bad report, you can be the one who trusts in love. When you do, you will open a door of relationship and communication that will enable you to speak other truth into their life.

Believe the best today. Don’t fake it. Faith it.

[Bible quotes are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.]

Find more of David’s work at Heart Of Ministry.

Would you be a good porter? A porter is someone who carries burdens, especially one employed to carry luggage for patrons at a hotel or transportation terminal. Porters help you carry stuff when you are in a place of transition on your journey. In life, we are often called upon by other people to be porters. At some point their hands are full, and they look to us to help them carry their stuff.

Sometimes we end up knowing things we wish we didn’t have to know. A friend is going through something heavy, and because of the relationship, they tell you some very difficult things. This is often called off-loading, or dumping. Sometimes put their problems off onto you because they are too lazy to deal with it. That’s not nice. But many times the weight is just too much for them to bear, so they entrust you with part of their burden.

This is some deep stuff. Some people cannot handle being a burden-bearer. It is too much. They aren’t emotionally stable enough to carry their own stuff, much less stand up under the strain of someone else’s struggle. You probably know these people in your life. You would not entrust them with your problems. They can’t handle it.

But I’ll bet you want to be a person who can handle your own issues and help carry the burdens of others. You likely already are. In the early days of the Church, the apostle Paul explained Godly love to people who had previously only known a worldly view of love. In that description he said, “Love bears all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:7) This bearing of all things is a getting up under a load (any load) and quietly carrying it. While some people are better at certain things than others, you never find Jesus, or any of the apostles telling Christians to seek out counseling in the world to help them deal with their problems. God designed and created us to help each other carry what we could not carry ourselves.

We should always know that Jesus has already carried our heaviest load. And He will walk with us as we struggle in life. No one can take the place of Christ. But something special happens when we look beyond our own load and help someone else carry theirs. This is a loving and spiritual exercise that has benefits to both parties. It is the best friend who will walk a difficult path and quietly carry the baggage of another. When you bear someone else’s problems you do so graciously, not reminding them that you are working hard on their behalf. You do so with discretion, not talking about it with others.

It is interesting to know that love bears all things. That encompasses a lot of baggage. While people may ask of you more than you can handle, God will not. I should say that God will often require more than you can handle on your own, but nothing you cannot bear with Him as your strength. Remember, the church is the body of Christ. So while it is good to ask God to help you with an issue, it is unlikely that He will respond by saying, “Okay… it’s you and me, kid.” He will usually say, “Okay… I am with you, and I will carry you when you can no longer go on. But you do not have to walk this valley alone. Find a Christian partner who will pray with you, believe with you, encourage you, cry with you, and cross the finish line with you.”

We need to be people who God and others can trust to pick up their baggage and carry it for them. Bearing with someone is not just going through stuff with them. It is carrying some of their stuff so they can actually make it through their difficult journey. A porter works in locations where people are traveling… hotels, airports, train stations, etc. Your friends are traveling. And sometimes their hands get full along the way. Come alongside and offer to bear their load. Not for money… but for love.

[Bible quotes are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted.]

Find more of David’s work at Heart Of Ministry.