APRIL 20

Love Bears All Things, Believes All Things, Hopes All Things, Endures All Things

Bible Reading: 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a; Romans 15:1-3; 1 Peter 4:7-8; Galatians 6:10; 2 Timothy 2:24-26

There’s a lot of mystery here in 1 Corinthians 13:7.  How can love do these things with respect to all things!  The challenges with understanding these aspects of Christlike love remind us of a very important truth.  The love of Jesus is transcendent (Ephesians 3:17-18)!  This passage speaks not of a human love improved upon, but speaks of the nature of that kind of love which is true of God and comes only from Him.  The call of this passage is not to try harder to be better when it comes to loving others in a Christ-like manner, the call is to walk by the Spirit, fixing our eyes on Jesus, so His love might flow through us.

Recall the simple statement of 1 John 3:16, “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us.” If we wonder as to the nature of Christlike love we should direct our thoughts cross-ward! What does it mean that “love bears all things?” There’s no better example of this, than what we see in Jesus, who “has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows” (Isaiah 53:4). He did that in a salvific way, which is something we can never do. We love like Jesus when we earnestly relate to others, bearing with their faults and imperfections according to a “I care about you” way of thinking (Galatians 6:2). Always keeping in mind that the other person is “one for whom Christ died” (Romans 14:15).

Love believes all things. That’s not to say love is naïve, or that it exercises no discernment (Philippians 1:9)! What do we find in the example of Jesus? Jesus is “the founder and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). He lovingly believed in all things when there was no earthly reason to believe at all. Amidst unimaginable sufferings, in bearing our sins, He exercised faith when He nevertheless cried out to the Father: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” (Matthew 27:46)? Even at the point of death, when He experienced the Father’s wrath for sin in divine judgment, Jesus still trusted in the Father’s love (1 Peter 2:23). It is as Phil Ryken has noted: “When we see Jesus on the cross, we see a man showing us how to believe all things. What enabled him to believe all things was love: love for his Father and love for us.” Amidst our own hardships, we love like Jesus when we live in subjection to the Father, deciding to love even when it involves sacrifice.

Love hopes all things. Biblical hope is not a hoping in hope kind of thing, but a confident expectation regarding some unseen future reality. That scene at the cross, where we, God’s creatures, mocked our creator, is arguably the most dramatic display in history of the extent of man’s hopelessness. Yet Jesus still hoped all things. From the cross He promised paradise to the penitent thief! When the time came, He cried out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46)! We lovingly hope all things according to Jesus’ example when we similarly relate to others, mindful that God is fully capable of working in their lives for good, even when their situation seems hopeless.

Love endures all things. It was a long journey that led Jesus’ to the cross, a journey full of trials, suffering and loss. Along the way, step by step, He lovingly subjected Himself to the Father, until His work was done. Then from the cross, having endured it all, He said those three glorious words, “It is finished” (John 19:30)! Hebrews 12:3 reminds us to “consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself.” That’s the way love works, as Alexander Strauch has noted, “Love is strong and tenacious: ‘No hardship or rebuff ever makes love cease to be love.’ Love lasts; it holds out; it perseveres in the face of opposition, unkindness, and difficulties; it never gives up.”

Aware of what Jesus can do, God’s kind of love is hopeful and optimistic with respect to others.  Confronted by failures, challenges, opposition and doubts, it does not surrender to the hopelessness which is so pervasive in our world.  It respects others and genuinely cares about them, it trusts them to God, it prayerfully yearns for God’s best for them, it forgives and endures through failures and setbacks.  It walks its own difficult journey until what is perfect in Jesus, is one day perfected by the Spirit in us.  That’s all a part of what it means to love like Jesus!

We Love Like Jesus When we Relate to Others with a Spirit-borne Optimism in What God Can Do 

Lord Jesus.  How wonderful Your work in our lives!  We were guilty, vile and helpless in our sins.  But You bore our sins and set us free.  Sin had put us in a helpless state.  But You rescued us from the pit of our despair and granted us Your peace.  We were without You and without hope in this world, but You saved us and opened our eyes to the hope laid up for us in heaven.  Nothing can work now to separate us from Your love.  We are eternally grateful!  You’ve so wonderfully loved us, may we love others just as You have loved us.  Grant us eyes to see them as You do.  Fill our hearts with a Spirit-borne optimism and compassion, borne out of Your love, that we might be always wanting and working for Your best in their lives.  Amen.

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Author: looking2jesus13

Jerry L. Conklin was born and raised in Hillsboro, Oregon. After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the United States Navy and served for six years in the Navy’s Nuclear Power Program. He was assigned to the USS *Omaha* (SSN-692), a nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine, where he served as a reactor-plant electrical operator. His military service took him to ports and locations throughout the world and provided extensive technical training, leadership experience, and an enduring appreciation for those who serve in the Armed Forces. Following his Navy service, Jerry earned a bachelor’s degree in Nuclear Technology from Thomas Edison State University. He worked at the Trojan Nuclear Plant near Rainier, Oregon, first as a reactor operator and later as a training specialist. After sensing God’s call to pastoral ministry, he left the nuclear-power industry and earned a master’s degree in theology from Western Conservative Baptist Seminary in Portland, Oregon. Jerry served for twenty-seven and a half years as senior pastor of Lewis and Clark Bible Church in Astoria, Oregon. During those years, he preached and taught the Scriptures, provided pastoral counseling, performed weddings and memorial services, trained church leaders, and served individuals and families throughout the community. He also served as a fire department chaplain and participated in a variety of community ministries. After retiring from full-time pastoral ministry, Jerry and his wife, Laura, moved to Heppner, Oregon. There he served for approximately four years as a chaplain with Pioneer Memorial Home Health and Hospice, providing spiritual and emotional support to more than 150 patients and their families. In 2023, the Oregon Association for Home Care honored him as its Chaplain of the Year. Jerry also helped establish South Morrow County Seniors Matter, a nonprofit organization created to address the needs of older adults following the COVID-19 pandemic. As chairman, he worked with community leaders and volunteers to develop a weekly senior meal program, a monthly veterans’ lunch, and other activities and services. The organization served hundreds of seniors, mobilized more than 200 volunteers, and received statewide and national recognition. In 2025, Jerry was named Heppner’s Man of the Year, and his community service was later recognized by United States Senator Jeff Merkley. International missions have also been an important part of Jerry’s ministry. He has made ten trips to Uganda, where he has taught at pastors’ conferences, preached in churches, participated in Bible-school graduations, distributed Bibles and Christian materials, and encouraged local pastors and ministry leaders. He developed the discipleship booklet *First Steps with Jesus* to help new believers understand and grow in their faith. Jerry is the author of numerous books, Bible studies, devotionals, and teaching resources, including works centered on prayer, Christian hope, spiritual growth, and the person of Jesus Christ. His decades of preaching and teaching reflect his commitment to presenting biblical truth clearly, practically, and faithfully. Jerry and Laura were married for nearly forty-two years and raised four children. They were also blessed with three grandchildren. Laura passed away in August 2025 following an eight-and-a-half-year battle with cancer. Jerry currently lives in Hillsboro, where he helps care for his elderly father. He continues to preach, teach, write, and serve others through pastoral and community ministry.

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