Monday, November 5, 2012

A Love That Never Fails


GREEK WORD WITH ENGLISH TRANSLITERATION: εκπιπτω  (ekpipto)

PRONUNCIATION:  ek-PIP-toe

STRONG’S CONCORDANCE #: 1601 (from 1537 and 4098)

MEANING: to fall; to fall away

BACKGROUND OF WORD (ETYMOLOGY): from two words meaning "to fall out"; used in the military sence of a soldier "falling out" of formation;

HOW TRANSLATED IN KJV AND/OR ESV:  fall; fall away; fail

# OF TIMES USED IN THE GREEK NEW TESTAMENT: 13

VERSES IN THE BIBLE WHERE GREEK WORD USED:
1 Corinthians 13:8 –
"Love never ends (εκπιπτω)."  ESV                                       
"Love never fails (εκπιπτω). " KJV, NKJV, NASB and NIV

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Paul, trying to set the record straight on spiritual gifts and the value of love tells us “Love never fails”.     

The word “faileth” or “fails” is the Greek word ekpipto, a word that dates back to classical Greece and generally means to fall from a high position. It was also used on rare occasions to depict a warrior who fell in battle. In many places the word ‎ ekpipto is used to depict falling into ruin, into destruction, into some kind of misfortune, or into disappointment. In 1 Corinthians 13:8, Paul uses this word to affirm the eternal truth that love never disappoints or fails.

It is simply the truth that human beings often fail each other. I'm sure you have felt let down by someone else at some point along the way. And if you're honest about your own dealings with others, you'll have to admit that you have been guilty of letting others down as well. But ‎agape ‎love — God's love — never disappoints, never fails, and never lets anyone down. It is a love that can always be depended on and is always reliable.

People you know and respect may occasionally fall from the high position they hold in life — and that can be an emotionally difficult experience for you when you see it happen. Other times, fellow warriors may fall in battle or stumble into some kind of misfortune that disappoints you, and that is painful as well.

But you can be sure that the ‎agape ‎love of God will never fail you or let you down. This love is constant, unchanging, and unbendable. It is a love you will always find to be reliable and true — a love on which you can depend.

God wants you to learn to function in His high-level ‎agape ‎love, which is why the Holy Spirit so carefully inspired the apostle Paul to write these famous words in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. This passage of Scripture is God's mirror, designed for us to look into so we can see how well we fare at walking in the ‎agape ‎love of God.

CHALLENGE FOR THE DAY:
Find someone today who is not “easy” to love in this “agape” type of love and extend yourself to them.  Seek several ways to day to prove that “love never fails.”

PRAYER OF THE DAY:

Lord, I want to be the embodiment of Your love. I know that I fall very short of the agape love that You desire to see operating in my life. Therefore, I am asking You to help me move upward to the highest level of love so I can be a channel through which this love can be poured out to others whom I know and meet. Just as You have loved me, help me become a life-changing source of divine love to other people. I pray this in Jesus' name! Amen. 

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