{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Reflections","title":"Tuesday of Quinquagesima","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":425,"description":"February 17, 2026Today's Reading: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13Daily Lectionary: Job 13:1-12; John 6:1-21“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” (1 Corinthians 13:7-8)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.1 Corinthians 13 is a Scripture you might hear quite often at weddings. As a man and woman stand in the presence of God and His people, they declare their love for one another. They make vows to one another, they exchange rings, and are pronounced husband and wife. The vows they make are until death parts them, which means the commitment that they are making to each other to be husband and wife is to love each other in sickness and health, for better or worse, richer or poorer, in the good days and the bad, no matter what life brings them. They are committing to love that never ends. Until it does end.Because not every man and woman who makes those promises to one another keeps them. Not every man and woman who promises to love their spouse until death parts them does exactly that. If you’re a child of divorce, like me, or if you have seen marriages of people that are close to you end, like me, you might know this quite well. So, why does this happen? Why do marriages end? Why can’t people keep their promises? Why can’t people love no matter the circumstances? In short, sin. Sin has caused all of us to be imperfect people. And imperfect people have imperfect marriages. Imperfect people don’t keep promises. Imperfect people love conditionally, rather than unconditionally. This means their love for their spouse is conditional on certain things (their spouse loves them in return, does certain things for them making them worthy/deserving to be loved, etc.). If those conditions are not met, the spouse thinks he/she does not have to love them. Thank goodness this is not how God loves us! He loves us unconditionally. This means that His love for us is not conditional on anything we do. If it were, I know that God would not...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/P3eUvssXYVZBQK4BZg1UEKstUh8zuVz_CoZCK6YjRSs/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/LzI1MTcyLzE3MDI0/Mjg1MzAtYXJ0d29y/ay5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}