A LOVE THAT ENDURES

In the first half of the twentieth century the world was exposed to the two most brutal conflicts in human history. World War One and World War Two took the lives of untold millions and left the world reeling in their wakes. In the aftermath of the Second World War things began to look up for America and its Western European allies, and it seemed that a new era of prosperity and freedom was on the horizon. 

The same could not be said for Eastern Europe, however. Upon the completion of the war, Stalin began to cement his control over the nations that his red army had “liberated” from their German occupiers. Within a few short years the people of Eastern Europe had gone from being under the control Hitler’s brutal regime, to being subjected to the harsh and watchful supervision of Stalin’s secret police.

As a part of his efforts to control the Soviet Union, Stalin began to limit the freedoms of the Church. The rules were clear, submit to Soviet doctrine, or become enemies of the state. For many, the threat of imprisonment and death was enough to convince them to dash their faiths against the rocks. However, for others, death was a small sacrifice in exchange for eternity. Among such people was a 36-year-old Romanian pastor named Richard Wurmbrand.

In 1948, after the harassment of the state failed to prevent Richard from preaching, he was arrested and sent to a soviet prison for eight and a half years. For three years Richard was kept in solitary confinement where he was tortured every single day for hours on end. His captors would burn him, cut him, and break his bones all while telling him to renounce his faith and embrace communism. After three years of such torture Wurmbrand was sent to a general population prison where his torture would continue. Still though, he did not give up his faith.

After spending eight years in communist prisons, Richard was released with strict instructions to never again preach the gospel, instructions that he promptly ignored. A few short years later, in 1959, he was re-arrested and sentenced to twenty-five years in prison where his captors would once more take up the task of torturing him. Five years later he would be released and finally ransomed out of the Soviet Union alongside his family. He was finally free.

From the outside it seems as though Wurmbrand had near inhuman resilience to endure such grueling trials, however if you asked him, he would have told you that something else helped him to endure. Love. According to Richard, it was only by Christ’s love that he was able to continue striving onward. It was love that filled his heart as his captors beat him, and love that drove him to care for his fellow prisoners in the aftermath of their own trials. It was love that motivated him to preach Christ even to the ones who tortured him. 

In his book, Tortured for Christ, Wurmbrand said “God will not judge us according to how much we endured, but how much we could love. The Christians who suffered for their faith in prisons could love. I am a witness that they could love God and humanity.” 

This statement has profoundly impacted my walk with Christ. For much of my life I believed that if I could just do all the right things, and have just enough discipline to endure, I would be righteous in the eyes of God. However, upon the first sign of trouble my legalistic faith would crumble, and I would find myself despairing both over my trial and my inability to attain righteousness. When I first read the quote above, I did not quite understand it. I struggled to love, and loving was to some extent a trial in and of itself. How was I supposed to love the people who treated me poorly, how could I love the people who so openly mocked me for my faith?

I felt deep guilt once more upon reading this quote, and felt as though I were a complete failure because I could not love. I can remember sitting atop my rack in my berthing aboard the USS America and looking at all the people that mocked my faith on a daily basis or ridiculed me for my refusal to partake in activities that would grieve God, and I wondered how I could ever love them. I was angry with them; in my heart I hated some of them. I thought my anger was righteous, but when I read about the love of Richard Wurmbrand and his fellow captives for their captors, I was convicted and made aware of the shallowness of my faith.I cannot say that I was immediately changed, or that in an instant I became the most loving person in the world, but I can say that on that day God initiated me into a journey of learning how crucial love is to the Christian Walk. In 1 Corinthians 13:13 Paul emphasizes the importance of love; “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” Love ought to be the very core of our faith. When we love God, we learn more about the love that He first had for us, and He fills our hearts to overflowing so that we can pour into the lives of others.

In the first chapter of the epistle to the Philippians, Paul opens with a beautiful encouragement to his brothers and sisters in Philippi. In what has to be three of my favorite verses in the epistle, Paul says “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:9-11).  

It does not matter how perfectly we present ourselves to God outwardly if we are not inwardly righteous, and that inward righteousness is a direct product of the love we have for the Lord, and more importantly, the love He has for us. The depth of our insight into love directly correlates with our righteousness and wisdom. If our love is weak, then our entire relationship with God crumbles. If we love deeply then our relationship with God will be strengthened and the trials and hardships of the world will not overtake us. 

I would like to encourage you to seek a deeper understanding of God’s love for you and strive to love Him. Your relationship with God is a blessing that ought to abound in joy, so don’t get caught up in trying to be perfect and don’t be consumed with the fear of displeasing God and incurring His wrath but be encouraged by the fact that He loves you. When you realize the steadfastness of God’s love for you, you will have no reason for fear, His hands will hold you, and He will cover you with the shadow of His wings.

 If you struggle now with love then I would urge you to cry out to God, and ask Him to reveal the abundant riches of His love towards you. You are a child of the Most High, and He has seen fit to clothe you in His affections like a king clothing a lowly beggar in his finest robes. In the midst of hardship, you can rest in God’s deep adoration for you and know that He is there with you, holding you tightly, and weeping with you. He will comfort you, and give you the strength to comfort your brothers and sisters. When trials abound do not allow your despair to destroy you, but look to Him and His love, and that love will give you the strength to endure all things.

 I would like to leave you with one final encouragement from scripture. “‘Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken, nor my covenant of peace be removed,’ says the Lord, who has compassion on you.” (Isaiah 54:10) The love of the Lord will never fail, and despite your many trials, His promises remain over you. Look to Him and be strengthened by His love.

-Seth Kendrick