By: Steve Wilmot
Georgia Tech and the California Golden Bears battled for supremacy in the 1929 Rose Bowl. Late in the first half, Georgia Tech fumbled the ball, and Cal’s center, Roy Riegels, picked up the ball and mistakenly ran the wrong direction — toward his own endzone. His teammate, Benny Lorn, managed to catch up to him and tackled him before he crossed the goal line.
Now deep in their own territory, Cal was forced to punt four plays later. The punt was blocked, and Tech scored a safety. (Though no one knew it at the time, those two points were the margin of victory for Georgia Tech over Cal.)
Riegels entered the locker room at half-time, dejected. He sat in a corner, head in hands, and bawled. Cal’s coach, Nibs Price, didn’t have a pep talk to rally players for the second half. When it was time to leave the locker room, Coach Price said, “Men, the same team that played the first half will start the second.”
All the players headed for the field except Riegels. Coach approached him and said, “Roy, didn’t you hear me? You’re starting the second half just like you did the first.”
“Coach,” Riegels said through his tears, “I can’t do it. I’ve ruined everything, and I don’t deserve to be on this team, let alone play.” Coach Price put his hand on Riegels’ shoulder pad and said, “Roy, get back on the field. The game is only half over.”
Riggles obeyed and played the second half better than he’d ever played before. What Coach Price did for Roy Riegels that day is a perfect example of Paul’s next description of love in 1 Corinthians 13.7 — “Love always hopes.”
Hope is a confident expectation that situations and people will be better down the road than they are now, and that implies waiting and being patient with people.
Biblical love sees people with a confident expectation (the true definition of hope) that they will grow and mature. They won’t retain the flaws and childishness you observe in them today, so you choose to treat them as works-in-progress.
True love realizes people are unfinished. They are a tapestry not fully woven. A puzzle not wholly put together. A painting that’s incomplete. A rough piece of woodworking, not totally sanded yet.
Love never looks at a person as a snapshot — a single moment in time that never changes. Love looks at him as a movie still being filmed — incomplete with a happy ending eventually.
You can love your toddler even when he poops his diaper, smears food all over his face, throws his sippy cup of milk at his sister, and stomps his foot at you in rebellion. How can you love him amid all that chaos? Partially because you confidently expect (hope) he won’t always be this way.
From the perspective that love always hopes, you don’t expect perfect actions, responses, words, or behavior from others. You love them, holding onto the hope that they will be better in the future than they are now.
When you love this way, you visualize the person he can become, not the jerk he’s behaving like now. You are also willing to roll up your sleeves to help him turn into that person. That’s the way Jesus loved Peter.
The first time they met, Peter went by another name: Simon, and he was a million miles away from the strong, dynamic leader he developed into after being around Jesus for three years. He was flawed, impulsive, reckless, and unstable. Yet through all his goof-ups, Jesus loved him.
Jesus didn’t see Peter mired in these weaknesses for the rest of his life. He instantly saw the man Peter could become and communicated that vision to him by giving him a new name.
“You are Simon. You will be called Peter” (John 1.42). Peter means “a rock.” In Jesus’ eyes, Simon would become rock solid in his faith and leadership.
Peter didn’t mature into that man overnight. Once, Jesus called him Satan because of a misguided statement he made. He walked a few steps on water but sank when he became afraid. When Jesus wanted him to watch and pray while he wrestled with God in the Garden of Gethsemane, he fell asleep. And when Jesus needed a friend the most, Peter denied even knowing him.
Despite these setbacks, when the old Simon emerged, Jesus always saw him and loved him as the man he eventually became. Jesus’ love always hopes.
If your love always hopes, it could save your marriage, family, and friendships and take those relationships to a higher level.
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Steve Wilmot is a former Edgerton, Ohio area pastor who now seeks “to still bear fruit in old age” through writing. He is the author of seven books designed to assist believers to make steady progress on their spiritual journey.