You mention the word “love” and for most people it conjures up the idea of happiness and romance. That’s fine … except, when it comes to one imperfect person loving another of the same ilk … well, often there’s a lot of pain and perseverance involved.

Loving someone can be a tough gig. I was once leading a tutorial at a Bible college where I was teaching. The subject up for discussion was genuine love. How do we live out the love that Jesus demonstrated on that cross for us?

One of the men in the group shared that his wife was going through menopause. And every now and then she had these amazingly irrational, emotional outbursts. He said, “You know, she doesn’t realise it’s happening to her”. Half an hour later, she’ll come back and say, “Did I just have an outburst?”

You could tell just the way he was telling us this – you could hear it in the quiver in his voice – that this was causing him a great deal of pain.

Someone asked him, “So, how do you cope?” He replied, “You know, it’s not easy, but I’ve come to the point where I realise it’s not her fault and if I’m going to love her, I just have to hold my tongue and love her through it to the other side.”

His testimony that day left a lasting impression on me.

Some people think marriage is an outdated concept. But right there is a woman who, whether she realises it or not, is experiencing the most faithful and wonderful love from her man … and you just can’t put a price on that.

Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

Whatever the context, whatever the situation, loving someone like that with the faithful love of God isn’t easy.

Be faithful anyway. Love them anyway.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.