My father loved wingtip shoes. He also drove a succession of long, boxy Chevy Caprice Classics (circa mid-1980′s). When I asked him why, he told me that “good taste never goes out of style.”
Wingtips and Caprice Classics aside, there are certain things that never do go out of style.
- Our longing to be appreciated.
- Our desire to have purpose.
- Our habit of wanting to belong.
- Our need for love.
It’s true: Love never goes out of style.
How we express our love may change from generation to generation. My father was raised during the Great Depression and never gave me a full-on hug until I left for college. But I never doubted he loved me.
God created us with the need to be loved and to show love.
“What a man (and a woman) desires is unfailing love …” (Proverbs 19:22). Few marriages are simply marriages of convenience — let’s get married because it’s easier to do yard work with two people helping out. Marriage appeals to us because it carries the possibility that we just might find what we’re looking for … unfailing love.
In a wonderful passage describing the attributes of real love, the apostle Paul writes:
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).
It’s why he will say in the very last verse in that chapter, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
Love never goes out of style. It may wax and wane. There may be moments of disappointments; perhaps even seasons of disappointment.
But don’t lose hope. Don’t give up. Real love never goes out of style.
– Ken
