Paul leaves the most important, and often times most difficult, aspect of love for the very end of his list. Here he tells them that love bears all things and endures all things. These two ideas encompass almost everything that Paul has mentioned above. That is why it is so important to make sure that we apply them to our own lives. When dealing with others we need to make sure that we bear all things with them.

Bearing all things requires patience on our part. It is easy for us to bear some things, or the small things, but to actually bear all things takes much more time and effort on our part. It also takes kindness and humility. In order to bear another’s burdens, we must always be looking for ways to help. We have to be involved in their lives so that we can find opportunities to help them. Enduring all things also requires forgiveness and not taking into account when others wrong us. We have to be willing to endure their mistakes, even up to seven times seventy (Matt. 18:22). It is one thing to endure the first offense, or even the second and third, but after that our patience and forgiveness may start to run thin. In such situations we must remember that love endures all things.

This can be very difficult for us to do at times. A lot of times we do not develop the patience to deal effectively with other people’s shortcomings. We may feel that we do not have the time to bear all the problems that they have. In those times when our love becomes weak, we need to remember how much God has loved us. Despite all our sins, He is willing to forgive us over and over again. He allows us to come to him at any time, through prayer, with whatever burdens we may have, big or small. Our relationship with God is one that is primarily based on him bearing all things for us. We need to follow his example and bear all in our own relationships.