LOVE’S EXPECTATION

…hopes all things… - 1 Corinthians 13:7d

Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: – Philippians 1:6

LOVE HOPES. Love hopes all things. Hope represents a favourable and confident expectation. It is an attitude that good will eventually come to those who may now be failing. Hope is optimism. Loving others requires maintain a measure of optimism on their behalf. LOVE is positive and optimistic. Love is positively expectant.

LOVE EXPECTS. Love wishes for a good outcome and expects to see it. LOVE waits and prays for positive changes. Love always looks for, hopes for and expects the best in people and happenings. These of course mean that love involves some sort of personal risk, including the risk of being disappointed! All of these are why LOVE LASTS and why love perseveres!

God’s love for us is ever-hopeful. God hopes for the best in you and I. He hopes we’ll listen to, obey and serve Him. God hopes we’ll take full advantage of all He offers to us in the redemption package. Christ in you is the HOPE of Glory (Col.1:27b). God never expects that you’ll disappoint Him.

Although, virtually no one is immune from failure, it often causes others to give up on the one who fails. In a sense, hope is not so much what we place on other human beings, but on Christ in them. When brethren fall, it is Christ who picks them up and makes them stand: Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand (Rom.14:4). Our confidence is in Christ fulfilling the promise of finishing the good work He began us (Phil.1:6). Keeping an optimistic outlook toward others often provides the expected impetus for them to improve, make amends or make progress.

Love is not blind utopia but is able to look ahead at the special opportunities that daily come with relationships, living in the hope that God's grace can shine into the darkest places. The same caution with believing all things should however apply to hoping all things. Optimism should never be misconstrued for foolishness and wishful thinking! Hoping a criminal will change positively for example, does not exclude the need for correction, discipline, prosecution or punishment.

Ultimately, there is a connection between love believing, love hoping and love lasting. Love believes the best even in the absence of visible or tangible evidence. Love hopes for the best even when the evidence goes bad. Love keeps on enduring and lasting even where hopes are disappointed.