In 1956, Elisabeth Elliot received devastating news from the Ecuadorian jungle. Her husband, Jim, and four fellow missionaries had been killed by the very people they hoped to reach.
Elisabeth had every reason never to return. Yet two years later, she and her young daughter went to live among the Waodani people. She could not undo the loss or pretend it had not happened. But she refused to let it end her love for them or her desire to help them.
That kind of love is difficult even to imagine. Yet it helps us hear the weight of Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 13:7: “Love bears all things.”
The Greek word translated “bears” (stegō) can mean “to cover, protect, or bear up under.” The nineteenth-century Bible commentator Heinrich Meyer explains that love bears burdens, trouble, and hardship caused by others without ceasing to love. He observes that Paul uses the same verb in 1 Corinthians 9:12 to describe what he was willing to bear for the gospel’s sake.
Matthew Henry reminds us that love patiently passes over injuries instead of nursing anger or seeking revenge.
In the previous verse, Paul says love “does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.” Love, then, does not announce every irritation, replay every careless remark, or make another person’s weakness a topic of conversation—or worse, hurtful gossip.
Love does not make every burden heavier by complaining about it, nor every fault more public by repeating it. It bears what it can, helps where it should, and speaks the truth when it must.
Love shields others, absorbs pain, and stands firm with quiet strength. It remains faithful even when misunderstood, misrepresented, or wounded. Facing life’s hardships, a believer can endure suffering without bitterness, anchored in God’s promises. In the workplace or in ministry, this kind of love faces rejection or loss yet continues forward with faith.
Mike Willis, in his commentary on 1 Corinthians, observes that stegō can also mean “to conceal,” suggesting that Paul’s point is similar to what Peter wrote in 1 Peter 4:8: “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”
So, what does this simple, succinct statement—“love bears all things”—look like?
In marriage: Love sits with a spouse through a hard season, even when there is no quick solution. It accepts an inconvenience without keeping a running tally of who has done more.
In parenting: Love listens to a child’s repeated questions when the parent is tired. When an older child makes a poor decision, love tells the truth while still offering help and a way forward.
In the church: Love gives a new Christian room to grow instead of expecting instant maturity. It helps a struggling member carry a burden without turning that person’s hardship into idle conversation.
At work: Love helps a coworker finish a difficult task, even when the help will receive no recognition. It addresses a mistake directly with the person involved instead of embarrassing them in front of the team.
Among friends: Love makes time to listen when a friend’s grief lasts longer than expected. It remains present when the friend has little energy to give back.
With neighbors: Love checks on an elderly neighbor, brings in a package, or offers a ride, even when it interrupts its own plans.
In other words, “love bears all things” in the ordinary, even mundane moments of life—when patience costs time, help requires effort, and faithfulness brings no applause or recognition.
John Calvin spoke of the human tendency to want others to bear our burdens while we resist helping them. “The remedy for this disease,” Calvin writes, “is love, which makes us subject to our brethren, and teaches us to apply our shoulders to their burdens.”
As Paul wrote in Galatians 6:2, “Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.”
So, whose burden could I put my shoulder under today?
—Ken Weliever, The Preacherman
