A generation that quits //

When something isn't as it ought to be and doesn't satisfy our needs we are quick to give up on it, rather than praying for redemption for it.

Perhaps you're in a marriage, a family, a friendship, a community, that isn't as it ought to be and doesn't satisfy your needs. Don't leave. Don't remain frustrated. Don't dwell on all the short comings of the individual(s). Don't cut down the individual(s) behind their backs. Pray for the Lord's heart for them. When He gives it to you, allow Him to move you to pray in accordance with His will for the relationship/community. Remain steadfast in His love for them. Continue praying in faith for the changes He desires. He will answer, change will come, growth will occur. You'll love the individual(s) more than you ever thought you could and wonder how you ever thought you could just throw you're hands up and abandon them. Love believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things... Love. Never. Fails.

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As fallen men we are not as we ought to be and can't satisfy God's desire for a people set apart. Rather than throwing His hands up in the air in frustration, giving up on us and leaving, Jesus's love compelled Him to make a way for us to be with Him, to never be separated from Him.

While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. // Romans 5:6–8

His heart is for us. He desires to be near us. A willingness to change, a desire for growth is all it takes. He doesn't ask us to be immediately flawless. Allowing Him to make us right little by little delights Him. He couldn't love us more. He'll never love us less. He doesn't grow tired of loving us, even in our yet imperfect states. His love is as fresh today as it was when He was compelled to go to the cross by it, and it will still be as fresh every moment of eternity. Receive it.

And if we have been so loved by our [faithful, merciful, compassionate, loving] God, we ought also to love [never give up on] each other.