I Corinthians 13:8 states, “Charity never faileth…”
You may have heard the saying, “You never know until you try it.” I found myself one morning on top of a mountain wanting to get my D-6 Cat moved back home twenty miles away. I hired a logger to haul it on his lowboy trailer. He couldn’t load it on the landing where it was sitting because the ice-covered road going down from there would not allow him to get stopped at the main road. We had to load the Cat on the highway. The trailer deck was about two feet off of the ground. To get the Cat on the trailer, we had to load from the side. The logger showed me what to do. He said it works every time. He laid two truck wheel rims on the ground next to the trailer and had me inch up on them with the Cat tracks. The first try sent one of the rims sliding across the icy road. The second try made the Cat start pointing upward and over the edge of the deck. It seemed the Cat was going straight up in the sky. I feared it would come over backward. I watched the logger as he was shaking his head, “yes, yes,” and waving me to keep coming. Finally, the Cat slammed down on the trailer and I threw the clutch lever forward. I sat there a second and determined I would never try that again.
We may have tried to put charity to work and found it to be a slamming letdown. We went out of our way, with a right attitude, to help someone and it seemed to make no difference. Maybe we gave money to someone begging only to find out they were making a good living on that corner. Whatever we may think, the fact is the Bible says, “Charity never faileth!”
Paul did not make this statement lightly. He stacks charity up against prophecies, tongues, and knowledge. I Corinthians 13 is all about charity. Compared with faith and hope, charity is the greatest. In chapter 14, Paul says to follow after charity. Let’s take a look for a moment at something that works every time.
Charity is not an emotion but an action—it costs us something. Charity has more to do with the giver than the receiver. Paul said in verse two of Chapter thirteen that if we don’t have charity, we are nothing. This chapter seems impossible to live up to. We all fail over and over, but charity never faileth. “If I fail then I must not have charity”. Paul didn’t say that. It is the act of self-denial that never fails.
In John 13:1, Jesus was looking toward His soon-to-be crucifixion. His love for those He was dying for continued “unto the end.” That included Judas who was yet to betray him. It cost Jesus His life so that our sins could be forgiven. On the cross He said, “Forgive them…” This kind of self-denying love for others is not understood by the world. This does not come easy for the born-again believer. It is the thing we must follow after. It is God’s call to us.
Paul ended his first letter to the Corinthians with this challenge, “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity” (I Corinthians 16:13-14).
It works every time. There is a great crowd of witnesses cheering for us. Lets us set our sights to the sky. We will not fall over backward. Jesus said, “If I be lifted up I will draw all men to me” (John 12:32). He was talking about being lifted up on the cross. Don’t be afraid to be lifted up. It works!
