Love: Part Twelve (Conclusion)

The Conclusion: Love never fails

1^st Corinthians 13.8-10

”Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.”

Love is an essentially indescribable emotion. When you ask a person to describe love to you, they will usually tell you how love acts. They will describe how it makes them feel. They will tell you what it does. We tend to look for the tangible evidence to explain the unexplainable. We can describe in vivid detail how a person acts when they love us. We can recognize the actions of love in others. However, when asked to describe love itself, the emotion, we will drop back to the actions. We will lean to the attributes to explain the emotion.

In this study, we have looked at a list of attributes of love. It is by no means an all inclusive list of all that is love and all that love is. It is a list of what love should look like in our lives. It is a list of characteristics that our love must manifest. It is the miter that our love is to match, cut for cut. As I stated earlier in this study, love is the irreducible minimum of the presence of God in our lives. It is the utmost that humanity can express. It is the minimum that God expresses. It is obvious, when you look at the title of this study, that it is never simple when you say, love.

Together, we have traveled through the scriptures related to the attributes Paul listed in 1^st Corinthians 13. We have learned of the long suffering aspect of real love. We have viewed the kindness of love. We have come to understand how love does not envy because it rejoices at the good fortune of others. We realize that love is not rash nor does it seek to elevate itself. Love behaves properly in all circumstances. Love does not seek to appease its own desires. We see that love is not easily provoked. It does not celebrate in wrong doing, but it does rejoice in the truth. Finally, we see how love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

Paul concludes, as we must also, the love never fails.

Our God is a permanent God. His Word tells us that He never changes. He never ends. He is from everlasting to everlasting. His word also tells us that God is love. Therefore, love never fails. Love never ends. Love outlasts my faults and failures. Love outlasts my doubts. Love outlasts my inadequacies

As important as this aspect is, and it is another attribute of God’s love as well as a conclusion of the scriptures listed before, Paul addresses the issues of the church at Corinth in his conclusion about love.

The church at Corinth was a proud church. They were proud of their ability to declare the prophetic word of God. They were proud of their ability in language. They were proud of their knowledge. Paul said that prophecy was going to cease. Prophecy was going to end. Love was not going to end. There will be no need for prophecy in New Jerusalem. What we know in part now will be known in full then. There will be no need for someone to declare the mysteries of God.

In Heaven, we will all once again speak the same language as it was before the tower of Babel. We will speak to God in His tongue and to each other in God’s tongue as well. There will be no more need for tongues to edify or communicate the hidden hurts of the heart. All of those will be washed away. Physical pain comes from a corruption in the body; in a member or internal organ. This corruptible flesh will put on incorruption. There will be no more physical pain. Therefore there will be no need for the Spirit to make intercession for us with groaning that cannot be uttered. Mental pain is caused by some corruption in the mind. Emotional pain is caused by some corruption the emotional center, whether it be conveyed as the heart or the brain. These things will all be wiped away by the hand of God as we are transformed on that day; when our mortal puts on immortality; our corruptible puts on incorruption; when death is swallowed up in victory.

Paul tells then churches at Corinth, where they put great stock in their knowledge, that knowledge was going to vanish. As the light of a star will be over shone by the light of the midday sun, so shall our human knowledge be in the light of the knowledge of the ages. What we knew in part, we will then know fully. We, grasping at the sparkles of gifts, and powers, and information, will see, in the wisdom of the ages, how futile our squabbles and debates were.

In this, prophecy will end, tongues will cease, and knowledge will vanish, but, when all is said and done, love will still be there.

I love talking to the elderly. While I am not as young as I was, I am not as old as I will be. Even now, in my 50’s, I love talking to the elderly. When they talk, they talk about what is important. They don’t remember all the fancy or luxurious car they once owned or drove. They don’t dwell on the houses and lands they may have possessed. They don’t go on and on about the jobs or careers they once had. Those things fade. The things they talk about are the people that they have loved or have loved them.

Time has washed away the feigned importance of all those things. What has weathered the storm; what has survived the tide; what has made it through the fires of age; are the ones in whom they invested their love. The status symbols of youth are sitting, rusted, in the vast wasteland of unimportant memories. The careers and knowledge that once seemed to define them have withered in the blazing sun of age.

Paul said, when I was a child, I spoke like, acted like a child. When I grew up, I stopped being a child. I know that our children are the lights of our lives, they are the stars which shine in our skies, but they had to grow up. Children are selfish (not yours I know, but mine were.) Children are given to sudden outbursts. Children are known for temper tantrums. Children are easily distracted and therefore a tad bit unreliable. Children have value systems that are a bit askew.

Paul, in the midst of righting wrongs and dealing with squabbles in the churches of Corinth, told them to grow up.

He told them that this thing was about a love that will never fade; will never wither; will never pass away; will never fail. It is not about how many converts you have in your bag. Even though it is imperative that we evangelize the world, it is still not all about have many converts we have been instrumental in procuring. It is not about how many Home Bible Studies you have held. It is not about how many times you have led the choir. It is not about how much you have given to the church. It is not about how much you have prophesied. It isn’t about how much you speak with tongues. It is not about the many charities you support. It is not about giving your body to be burned to save others. It is not about how much knowledge you possess. It is about the love that is shed abroad in your heart.

Love is eternal. It is everlasting, it never ends. It continues and continues and continues.

Not all love is permanent.

There are different kinds of love. We have spoke about them in several Bible studies. There is ‘phileo’ love and ‘eros’ love.

‘Eros’ love is based on need. It is expressed in gratification. It is represented by the physical love we have for others, whether within the boundaries of marriage or not. ‘Eros’ love is not wrong, in and of itself. It is the place where it occurs that sets the right or wrong about it. Within the bonds of marriage, this type of love is acceptable and expected, between husband and wife. It is when it is expressed outside the marriage bed that it becomes sin. The Word tells us that when lust is conceived, it brings forth sin, and when sin is finished, it brings forth death. The word for lust, ‘epithumia’ means a strong desire or longing. It has both good and bad connotations. It is lawful for one spouse to long for the company and physical touch of the other. However, ‘eros’ love is not permanent.

‘Phileo’ love is based on performance. It is the give and take love we encounter most often in this world. As long as you love me, I love you. As long as we share our common bond, our love is maintained. It is the beginning basis of friendship. We share this when we have something in common with another. We work at the same place; we shop at the same market; we love the same restaurant; we have a common interest. It is based on the performance of each participant. How many friends have disappeared once they left the common place where you were both employed? Their friendship/love was performance based. It is not eternal.

‘Agape’ love is different. It is a deep unconditional spiritual love. It is difficult for us to fully comprehend. The greatest example of this type of love was Jesus Christ on the cross. You could have been there and beheld Christ on the cross and still not comprehend the depth of his love. We have trouble grasping this type of love. Our minds see the sacrifice and reason why it took place. We know the words. We can recite them. “For God so loved …” We read and quote these words for His word as if we really understand them, when it is futile for us to believe that we do. Even more unbelievable is that this never ending, unexplainable, unable to be comprehended, love is available to us through Jesus Christ.

It is little wonder that our finite, limited brain thinking has trouble comprehending an infinite limitless love. It goes beyond our ability to understand. We see how some parents are able to love beyond measure a wayward child and we get that dumbfounded look. We can’t see the nearly unbreakable cord of love that exists between that father or mother and that child. Yet, God says that a mother’s love will fail before His love will fail.

It is this love that established grace. It is this love that established a place where our sins are hidden and we can stand in the presence of God. it is this love that continually calls to fallen mankind . It is this love that, though trampled on by doubt and rebellion, still reaches out to man. It is this love that compels God to knock on the door of the hearts and lives of sinners, beguiled and captivated by the glitter of Satan’s temptation. It is this love that draws us to Calvary.

It is this love, which we do not have to understand, that leads us in our daily lives. It is inseparably mingled with the blood He shed on the cross. It is inseparably linked with his will. This is the love at which men marvel. This is the love of which we grasp to comprehend, yet never fully understand.

We cannot wrap our minds around a love that never fails and never ends. Ask me about a love that is conditional and I can talk to you all day. Ask me about a love that wanes and we can carry on long and detailed conversations. Ask me about a love that falters and I can fully grasp that. ,ask me about a love that will go to certain heights and certain depths, but cannot and will not go to the ends of the earth, and I know about that kind of love.

Do not ask me to explain the love that never fails. In this study, in all its parts, in the sum of words totaling over thirty thousand, I have not even begun to justifiably describe or explain the love that God has given to us.

It does not fail, because it suffers long with us. It does not fail because of the kindness it possesses. Love does not fail in that it is not envious of the gifts and talents of others. It does not fail because it does not act rashly. It does not fail because it is not built up in itself. It does not fail because it does not act incorrectly. This love does not fail because it does not seek its own. It is not easily provoked. It does not fail because it is not weakened by thinking evilly of others. It does not fail because it does not celebrate evil but rejoices in the truth. This love does not fail. It bears all things. It believes all things. It hopes all things. It endures all things.

When all else will fail, it will not. When all our accomplishments are crumbled to dust, His love will still stand.

Long after our deeds are forgotten, His love will still be enduring.

Long after our doubts have been passed, His love will still be there.

Love will never end.

The creator of mankind does not sleep nor slumber. His love is always on call. It will not fail. It will not end.

Think of the one you love the most, and His love far exceeds that.

I do not possess the knowledge or verbiage to adequately express how enduring His love is.

Prophecy will end. His love will not. Tongues will cease. His love will not. Knowledge will vanish. His love will not.

Time will fade into an eternal oblivion. His love will not.

Over six billion people inhabit this world He created, and still His love knows your name and where you are right now. While we may be able to count the number, we cannot get a handle on the reality of that number, and yet, His love can call each one.

There is no other way to explain it. His love does not know how to fail. It is never a consideration. Love does not have a plan ‘b’ in case plan ‘a’ fails.

The stars in heaven fade. Love will outlast them.

On earth, we seek and invest in things we think will last, but the moth and rust corrupts them in time. Love does not fade or lose its luster.

1^st Corinthians 13:13 “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity”

We put much stock in our faith and the hope we have. These things will be gone some day. There will be no need for faith or hope. Love, however, will always be.

Love never fails.

Without faith it is impossible to please God; and without it, we cannot partake of the grace of Jesus; without hope we could not endure, as seeing him who is invisible; nor bear up under the afflictions and difficulties of life: but great and useful and indispensably necessary as these are, yet charity or love is greater: Love is the fulfilling of the law; but this is never said of faith or hope.

By faith we receive from God; by hope we expect a future and eternal good; but by love we resemble God; love is the image of God in the soul.

Love: Part Eleven (Summary)

Next we begin to see the summary of what the writer is telling us about love. He has lain out specifics and very clear imagery for us to understand better the nature and works of love. Now, he takes all of these and balls them into this tight summary. All of the things we have seen and heard about love to this point can be placed into categories falling under the next four statements made about love. I will go farther and say that they can be brought into two sets of summaries. I will try to keep them condensed in this eleventh installment in this series.

• Bears all things and endures all things

Love bears all things. It does not crumble or buckle under the weight of humanities doubts or reason. Logic cannot break it.

There used to be a game sold called “The Last Straw.” It featured a camel that had two baskets linked across its back. The object of the game was to add straws one at a time per player until the ‘last straw’ broke the camel’s back. When enough straws produced enough weight to collapse the camel and the humps touched, the player adding the last straw was eliminated.

Love does not break under the load. Love bears all things.

Under the Law of the Old Testament, there was ‘an eye for an eye’ remuneration. If someone stole your lamb, they owed you a lamb. If someone destroyed your crop, they owed you a crop. This went even as far as a life for a life. If a person killed someone unintentionally by accident, the family of the slain had a right to take the life of that person. There were cities of refuge to which one could flee for sanctuary. Inside a City of Refuge, the accused was safe from the revenge of the family as long as the judge of the city lived and as long as they stayed within the limits of the city.

That was the old law. That was the way then. Now, Paul tells us that we have something new. We have a new covenant. This new covenant is not inscribed on tables of stone. It is written in the fleshly tables of the heart. (2^nd Corinthians 3.3) There is a new motivation.

There is a new method of dealing with loss. Matthew records the words of Jesus when He told the followers, that if one strikes you on the cheek, you are to turn the other cheek to be struck again. This was intended to be understood, both literally and figuratively. The figurative understanding is what I want to look at right now. It simply means that if someone wrongs you in some way, you are not only not to retaliate, but are to put yourself in the same position to be wronged again.

In one place in the scripture, Peter is talking to Jesus and asks if someone wrongs him, is he to forgive seven times even? Jesus tells him, “I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.” What was Jesus telling Peter? In this new covenant, there is a new law. There is a new ruler. Our hearts and lives are to be ruled by love. We are governed by a love that bears all things. This may seem overwhelming at a casual glance, but then we must understand that Jesus also tells us the He will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able. How can we bear it? We can bear it because our hearts are governed by a love that is able to bear all things.

The word used by the writer is ‘stegei’ which means ‘to cover’. The Word tells us that love will cover the multitude of sins.

Why is love long suffering? It is because this love covers the wrong. It keeps the resentment out like the roof covers the house and keeps out the rain. This covering we have as a protection against the weapons of the enemy of our soul.

In his letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul exhorts the believers to put on the whole armor of God. He tells them to do this that they may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all, to stand. He tells them to have their loins girt about with the truth and to have on the breastplate of righteousness. (love rejoices in the truth.) their feet are to be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. (Love does not behave itself unseemly.) Above all, they are to take the shield of faith. (Love believes all things) Take the helmet of salvation, he further urges, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [John 1.1] He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. [1^st John 4.8])

This love we have as a protection and a comfort. It stands between us and the world.

Mathew 10:16 “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.”

Violence begets violence. When we encounter the world of the enemy, we are not to meet it with violence. We cannot defeat our enemy by becoming our enemy. God acknowledged that He was sending us out as sheep, and that we were going to be in the midst of wolves. He did not, however, send us out without a covering and a weapon. Love, unfailing, unwavering, unending love is our covering and our weapon. We will not convert the world by force. We will not win the lost by trickery or deceit. We will reach our world because we are governed by His love. It is this love that bears all things. It is this love that covers all things. It is this love that covers our sins. It is this love that must shine through us to a world that is groping in utter darkness. This love is the light set on the candlestick. This love is the city set on the hill that refuses to be hidden. This love is the light that will draw all men to it. This love that bears all things is what they need. This is what the world is seeking, whether they realize it or not.

This is what they are looking for in the bottom of the bottle. This is what they are seeking in the cylinder of the hypodermic. This is what they are searching for in relationship after relationship.

This love covers all things. Thereby, it is kind, does not envy, does not act rashly, or react harshly. It is not puffed up. It is not running to do harm. If it sees the faults of a brother, it is quick to bring it to them in a spirit of reconciliation and not to publically demand judgment.

This love will pass by and put up with injuries, without indulging anger or cherishing revenge. It will be patient upon provocation. It holds firm, though it be much shocked. It sustains all manner of injury and ill usage, and bears up under it, such as curses, slanders, prison, exile, bonds, torments, and death itself, for the sake of the injurious, and of others; and perseveres in this firmness.

This and more is why this love will ever be kind. This love we have as an insulator against the harsh and rash reaction of the flesh. We are all flesh. We will contend with this flesh in some manner as long as we are alive. Paul spoke in his letter to the church in Rome that in his flesh dwelled no good thing. He further told them that the will was present but how to perform that which was good was not. (Romans 7.18) he spoke of the constant warfare within his body and soul. We will be human until we are taken home, by death or by rapture. It is then and only then, that this corruption will put on incorruption. Then, this mortality will put on immortality. Until then, we have His love to carry us through. It is this love, His love, that we are to exhibit to the world.

Love endues without complaint. Some will suffer, but not without giving full acknowledgement to the depths of their suffering. Love does not complain about the suffering of humanity in as much as love believes it is working all things for its good, according to the Words of the love giver. Paul spoke about his thorn in the flesh, which he prayed about thrice, but came to accept it was his to keep him from becoming exalted. He never claimed to like or enjoy the condition, but did accept it by the love he bore, and endured it without constant complaining.

1Pe 5:8-10

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.”

For this cause we suffer with grace through love.

Job 13:15 “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.”

The love, living in my heart, will bear and endure all things. In all that he bore, Job remained true to god in his love and integrity. He did not buckle under the load.

• Believes all things and hopes all things

We live in a very cynical society. The prince of the air has so robbed this world of trust that no one trusts anyone else anymore. Everything is taken with a grain of salt. I heard a quote some years ago, “Don’t believe anything you hear and only half of what you see.” These seem to be the watchwords of modern man. We, as Children of God are baptized into a love that believes. This love casts out doubt. If we have this love, we have this belief. If He loves us, and if He said it, He will do it.

When we have this belief in our God, it cannot help but ‘slop’ over into all our other relationships. This love causes us to trust. There is an acronym I created years ago based on the word ‘trusting’.

Truly * Relying * Upon * Something * That * Isn’t * Naturally * Given.

This trusting doesn’t mean that we believe all falsehoods or anything said to us. It does mean that we don’t naturally disbelieve everything. We give the benefit of the doubt. There will be times, no matter how carefully you plan that you may find yourself in a place where what is happening can be totally misconstrued. I was driving the van for the church once when I went to the hospital to visit one of our members that was there. The hospital had very limited parking at this time and there was none available in their lot. I parked across the street at a metered parking spot and proceeded with my visit. We talked a while and had prayer. I left the hospital, crossed the street, got in the van and left.

It was some time later that the word got back to me that someone was wondering why I was at a bar in the church van. Now, it was not likely that I would have been at a bar and less likely that if I was going to sneak out to a bar that I would drive the church van. Upon further inquiry, I found that the day in question was the day I visited the hospital. It seemed that the parking spot I chose on the street was in near proximity to the entrance to a bar. Someone, knowing the van and that I was driving, assumed that I was at the bar (I guess not taking into consideration that it was during the afternoon. I don’t even know if the bar was open at that time.)

God’s love, of which we are partakers, gives the benefit of the doubt. God’s love, if exhibited would have taken me to the side and asked rather than tell the tale with the slant on wrong doing. Love rejoices not in iniquity. Love rejoices in the truth.

Dad used to say that our feelings sometimes determine what we believe. If we hear a bad report about someone we don’t particularly care for, we are quicker to believe it. “I always knew they weren’t what they claimed.” However, if we hear a bad report about someone we love, we are quicker to defend. “I don’t believe it. There must be a simple and logical explanation.” The love of God is shared equally in both situations. Will there be times that we will be fooled? Oh, yes, there most certainly will be times like that. I quote dad again, who used to say, “I’d rather be taken a few times than be cynical about everyone.”

Love refuses to believe the bad until it has no choice. Then, love seeks to restore rather than reject. Love seeks to reconcile rather than exile. Love seeks to embrace rather than to turn away. The word tells us that if we see a man overtaken in a fault we are to restore them.

There is an old saying, “once a thief, always a thief.” How wrong is it to label a person because of some wrong action they took at one time in their lives? Love looks beyond the wrong and sees the soul that needs God. Love looks beyond the label and sees the potential of a testimony. I heard someone say, and it bears repeating here, “Don’t mistake the man for the moment.” In some weak hour, in some weak moment, we all might slip. How would we feel if we were forever labeled by some error or mistake in our lives?

In his letter to the church at Galatia, Paul further tells them that they (we) are to bear one another’s burdens. Job’s comforters came with accusations rather than comfort. Surely, you have committed some great sin for God to allow this to befall you.

Love believes no evil. There is a difference in believing something and knowing something.

For this belief, love rejoices in the truth. Love finds the good. Love does not entertain the evil that might be the motive, but rather believes there must be a reason beyond the evil that once lived in our own hearts.

The Word tells us that we have an anchor. An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, which is used to connect a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the vessel from drifting due to wind or current. The anchor does so much more than just keep the ship from drifting while safe in the harbor.

When we think of an anchor, we most commonly think of the anchor attached by chain to the ship itself, however, the point to which the ship anchors in port, the immovable point, is also an anchor. The differences in the two are probably best summed up by the name of each. The anchor stored on the ship and attached by a chain is a temporary anchor. The immovable point to which a ship is secured in port is called a permanent anchor.

Heb 6:19 “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;”

This love hopes all things. This love attaches us to the anchor. This love, shed abroad in our hearts, ties us to the secure and steadfast point. The Bible tells us that our anchor is both sure and steadfast. The word for ‘sure’ is a compound word. It incorporates the negative article ‘a’ coupled with the word for ‘fail.’ The Word tells us that our anchor is unable to fail. The love in our hearts is the attachment to our anchor.

Love hopes that all will turn out well. This must also refer to the conduct of others; and it means, that however dark may be appearances; how much so ever there may be to produce the fear that others are motivated by improper motives or are bad people, yet that there is a “hope” that matters may be explained and made clear; that the difficulties may be made to vanish; and that the conduct of others may be made to “appear” to be fair and pure. Love will “hold on to this hope” until all possibility of such a result has vanished and it is compelled to believe that the conduct is not susceptible of a fair explanation. This hope will extend to “all things” - to words and actions, and plans; to public and to private contact; to what is said and done in our own presence, and to what is said and done in our absence. Love will do this, because it delights in the virtue and happiness of others, and will not credit anything to the contrary unless compelled to do so.

This wonderful, all encompassing love which we have in our hearts and lives will bear all things; it will believe all things; it will endure all things; it will hope all things. It will suffer long and remain kind. It will not envy, or act in haste. It is not full of itself and will not behave badly. It is not vain, nor easily provoked. It neither thinks evilly nor rejoices in that evil, but it celebrates the truth.

There are many lanes and avenues to following Christ. I do not, in this study, seek to diminish any of them. They all have their place of importance. I do not wish to diminish the need for repentance, or baptism, or Spirit infilling. They are all vital. However, Paul stated in the beginning of this part of the letter, that if he does not have love, it counts for little.

1^st Corinthians 13.1-3

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.”

Without love, the rest is a moot point.

Love beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. (1^st Corinthians 13.8)

Next: The Conclusion

Love: Part Ten

This is the tenth installment in our series on love.

Salvation is predicated on love. John tells us quite plainly it was love that prompted God to give us a way to reach him. (John 3.16) when we look at who may or may not be the recipient of this great love and great manifestation of that love, we need only look at the word, ‘whosoever’. As I have stated and taught in other Bible studies, this word it the great equalizer of mankind. ‘Whosoever’ places us all on the same level at the foot of the cross. Regardless of where we are in our walk with God; regardless of where we started; regardless of the depths to which sin had taken us; we were all sinners that needed the love of God. ‘Whosoever’ put me on the same plane as the richest man in the world. Every individual that has accepted Christ and taken on the name started at the same place. We all began as a sinner. We all began as a person in need of the loving redemptive act of Jesus.

The Word tells us there is but one door. There is but one way. Everyone that enters must enter through this one door. Anyone that tries to enter by any other way is the same as a thief and a liar. I may have been a thief and a liar in my past, but his love put me at the door. His love prepared a path for me. His love made the sacrifice in my stead.

The one thing we need to realize is the difference in love. I love my wife. I love a good well-done steak. Both statements use the same word, but are in no way linked by the same love. This is true about God’s love. Too often, when we think of God’s love, we tend to think of it in our terms. God’s love does not fit in our terms. God’s love cannot fit in our terms. It is my firm belief, that we will not realize fully, the depth of God’s love until we are rejoicing around the throne in New Jerusalem; When we have cut asunder the bonds of humanity; When we have abandoned mortality for immortality; When we have forsaken corruption for incorruption; then we can say we really know the love of God.

We do not have the words to express the height and depth of God’s love. It is this inexpressible love that has been shed in our hearts. It is this indescribable love that we are called upon to manifest in our words. It is this overwhelming love we are called upon to demonstrate in our deeds. Is it any wonder that there are times we struggle to understand this love we have living inside of us? There will be times that we will be urged by this love to do things that we do not understand, but He understands. We must yield ourselves to His great love.

George Matheson was only a teenager when the doctors told him that he was losing his vision. He pursued his studies and graduated from the University of Glasgow at the age of 19, in 1861. His fiancé returned his engagement ring with a note: “I cannot see my way clear to go through life bound by the chains of marriage to a blind man.”

Matheson never recovered from his broken heart and never married. He led a full life as a powerful and poetic pastor. There were times when the pain of his unrequited love would resurface. One such time was the wedding of his sister. He turned to the unending love of God and penned these words:

“O love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee; I give thee back the life I owe, that in thine ocean depths its flow may richer, fuller be.” Ernest K. Emurain, Living Stories of Famous Hymns, (Boston, W.A. Wilde Company 1955)

· Love does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth.

Love has a partnership with the truth.

In Corinth there were people in the church that were destitute of any sexual morality. Paul wrote to them to change their ways. They did not. There were those in the church that were family and/or friends of these people. Paul was telling them that the love that is in our hearts does not rejoice in the iniquity of these people. We can love them and still not love the things that are doing. We can love people without loving their actions.

Now, when I was a kid, that was the way around loving people, or so I thought. I could tell people that I loved them but did not love their ways. I would do this, however, in a way that made it clear that I really did not love them, but was using this as a dodge. I was professing with my lips that I loved them, but my heart was far from loving them. In my mind, I could say this and still talk bad about them, because I didn’t love their ways. How blind I was.

Herbert Bayard Swope, (1882-1958) US Editor and Journalist said, “I can't give you a sure-fire formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure: try to please everybody all the time.”

Everyone is not going to be happy with everything you do. You will please some of the people some of the time, but you will never please all of the people all of the time.

It is a fine line.

Let’s talk about tolerance; what it really means and what it doesn’t mean. Proponents and opponents of tolerance alike have twisted the meaning to their own ends. If we preach about sin, we are accused of being intolerant. If we don’t preach about sin, we are accused of being soft on sin.

Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary tells me that Tolerance is: the act of allowing something, or willingness to accept feelings, habits, or beliefs that are different from your own.

I am tolerant of people with beliefs different from mine. The love in my heart does not rejoice with their iniquity. The word ‘rejoice’ means ‘to celebrate’. I accept that they have the right to choose the way they live. I do not have to celebrate that choice. I do not rejoice in their sin.

Tolerance does not mean that I agree that their beliefs are right. I accept that they have the right to believe as they wish, whether I think it is right or not. I do not endorse their belief. I do not accept it as right. I simply allow that it is their right to hold such beliefs.

I can love people without loving their actions. I can accept them into my life, into my circle of friends, into my family, without accepting that their beliefs are right. I am not being unfaithful to my beliefs by allowing others to hold to their beliefs. I will not allow these disagreements to build walls between me and those that (by my belief) need greater understanding.

As Christians, we need to grasp the difference between being insulated and being isolated. We are sealed by the Spirit. In my home there is insulation in the walls and in the ceiling that holds in the heat and holds out the cold in the winter and vice versa in the summer. My house in insulated. I am insulted by the Spirit of God. Every day, we go out into the world and move amongst people that are not saved. We interact, in various places, with sinners. We work with sinners. We shop at the grocery with sinners. We eat at restaurants with sinners and are sometimes served by sinners.

We were never called to be isolated. “Go ye into all the world,” He told us. Jesus has died, was resurrected, and has spent time with His followers. He has given them instructions on what to do after He is gone. He has taken some of His disciples up on the mountain with him as He is about to ascend. He gives them final instructions and ascends into the heavens. While they were standing there staring into heaven, two men in white apparel appeared and said unto them, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye here gazing into heaven?”

Why are you standing here when God has given you instructions as to what to do?

They return to Jerusalem to the upper room. There they took care of some business and tarried, awaiting the promise that was given them by Jesus. The Word says they were all in one mind and one accord. There came a sound from heaven like a rushing mighty wind and it filled the house. Then there appeared cloven tongues like fire and sat upon each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with tongues as the Spirit gave them ability. The church of the dispensation of grace was born.

Jesus’ instructions were to go out. This new born church hunkered down in Jerusalem. They continued in the temple daily, breaking bread from house to house having all things common. They isolated themselves somewhat.

The Roman Empire began to persecute this new church. It was like trying to stamp out a fire. When you step on it, it scatters. You do not obtain the desired effect of smothering it. You spread it. God allowed persecution to come to break the church out of its isolation.

We are insulated, but not isolated. We must interact with the world. We must carry this gospel to them. They will not come to our house (church) so we must take the Living word to them. We will not rejoice in iniquity, but we will rejoice in the truth, that has set us free; that has filled our hearts with love; that has insulated us; that has caused us to have hope in a hopeless world; that has given us unspeakable joy; that has drawn us out of darkness and given us a marvelous light; that has made us cities on a hill that cannot be hid; that will draw all men to Christ.

We rejoice not in the news that someone has fallen into iniquity, but rejoice at the news of someone coming into the truth. The Word tells us that we are to love our enemies; to pray for those the wrongfully accuse us; to turn the other cheek to those that harm us; to speak well of and to them that curse us; to do good to them that hate us; to pray for those that harass us; It is therefore, inconceivable to think it would be well in our souls and in line with the love of God in our hearts to rejoice at the evil which may befall those inside or outside the church.

Love does not celebrate the sin which so easily besets other men and women, but glories in the truth that cuts asunder the weights that drag us down. Love goes as far as to weep at either the sin or folly of even an enemy; takes no pleasure in hearing or in repeating it, but desires it may be forgotten forever. The part of our heart governed by the love of God hurts when we see or hear that, even those not of this body, have fallen to some folly. The media sensationalizes it when the mighty fall. We should weep. You never build yourself up by tearing others down.

Love rejoices in the truth - Bringing forth its proper fruit, holiness of heart and life. In the context of this scripture, truth stands as the opposite of iniquity. The grammar in the Word plots them as opposites. One talks about vices. The other speaks of virtues.

How is it that love rejoices not in iniquity? It is because love is willing to suffer long and be kind. It is because love does not seek its own and is not easily provoked. All these attributes are prompted by the same love. They are not stand alone pieces on an ala carte menu. We do not pick and choose this attribute and that one and leave the rest. Love is an all or nothing dish.

We, with whom the love is shared, share it equally. We have it all; we give it all. Each piece interrelated to the others. Jesus, speaking to a multitude, lamented over Jerusalem. He spoke about them killing the prophets and stoning them. Still, He said He would have gathered them as a hen gathers her chicks. Still, for them as well as you and I, He died. His death, rejoices not in their or our iniquities, but rather rejoices in truth. His death celebrates the victory of righteousness over unrighteousness.

His love, in us, celebrates the victory of virtue.

The Word tells us that there is rejoicing in the presences of the angels over one sinner that repents. It doesn’t say that the angels themselves are rejoicing. It says there is rejoicing in their presence. Who stands in the presence of the angels? God does. God rejoices when a sinner repents and turns from their wicked ways. God is love. Love celebrates when evil is defeated. Love rejoices in the truth.

Love does not rejoice in iniquity. Love rejoices in the truth.

Next: The Summary. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

Love: Part Nine

This is the ninth installment in our series on Love.

I was talking with a friend recently concerning this series of Bible studies. We talked about the placement of this chapter on love, in the book of 1^st Corinthians. The chapter before it was dealing with spiritual gifts. The chapter after it was dealing with speaking with tongues, prophecy, and tongues and interpretation. The Spiritual gifts and their place in the body was a debated topic in that day as it is today. That debate I will leave for another day. Speaking in tongues and the gifts of tongues, prophecy, and interpretation were as well, also debated in the church in that day. That debate, also, will I leave for another day.

What is important to me in this study is the placement of a chapter on love in the middle of these debated topics. It is not that a chapter on love would not stand on its own merit anywhere in the Word, as it would. Love is a concept complex enough to be on its own anywhere in the Word. Paul, being fully aware of the situation at hand, and addressing the debate existing in the churches at Corinth, decided in the middle of this, to remind the Corinthians that love still had to rule the day.

It was ok to debate. It is permissible that we reason together. Paul, knowing that sometimes debates can become personal and get heated, reminded the Corinthians that we were to treat each other with love, even in the midst of a heated debate.

If we allow love to rule the day, we will not fail.

As stated previously, this chapter was not written to a couple about to be married. Even though we use it most often in the wedding ceremony, this chapter on love was written to the church. It was dealing with the love we, as children of God, should show to those within and without the faith.

Someone once told me that they didn’t think God cared about the small things in their lives. I beg to differ. If you really want to know it, you can read the Word, and you will find that God has something to say about practically everything we do. He says something about the way we eat. He says something about the way we dress. He says something about the way we work. He has something to say about the way we spend our money. He wants us to know how we are to treat our employer and our employees. He has opinions about how we treat our children and how we treat our parents. He tells us how we are to treat those of our family and how we are to treat strangers. God wants to be involved in every facet of your life. It is part of being filled with the Holy Ghost. God wants His Spirit to invade and pervade every aspect of our being.

This chapter in 1^st Corinthians talks briefly about what God says about how we are to love. He does not make a difference in this chapter as to who we love, but how we love, everyone. Love is to be the same to our friends as to our enemies. The Word tells us that we are to love even those that use us spitefully. When the word talks about loving our enemies, it is still talking about that sacrificing love that we are to show our friends as well. When we return good (love) for evil, we heap coals of fire on the heads of our enemies. The Bible tells us that if we love only those that love us, we haven’t done much, because the wicked also love those that love them. We are to love, always.

• Thinks no evil

When we think about this term, ‘thinks no evil’, we have to consider that there are several aspects involved. Firstly, we are to think no evil in the manner of revenge against a wrong encountered. Also, however, we are to impart no evil motive to the actions of others toward us.

Let me illustrate this somewhat by a story in the Old Testament. Samuel was instructed by God to go to the house of Jesse to anoint a new king for Israel. Once at the house of Jesse, Samuel told the family that he came to offer sacrifice. He called for Jesse and his sons to sanctify themselves and present themselves to him.

When the eldest, Eliab, stood before Samuel, in his heart He said, surely the Lords anointed stands before me. The Lord corrected Samuel in his spirit when he told him not to look on his countenance or the height of his stature. He told Samuel that He had not chosen him. God spoke further that He does not look as other men look. Man looks on the outward appearance. God looks on the heart.

We take into account the actions of those around us. We know people, not because we see into their hearts, but because of their actions. We judge instinctively. It is not even a conscious decision at times. When someone does something, we unconsciously assess a motive to the actions.

Isaiah tells us that Gods way are not our ways and God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. The reason that we cannot think like God is in part due to the fact that we cannot see the heart of the offender. Therefore, not being able to see the heart, we attach motives for the actions.

My theory, and feel free to disagree, is that most people see others through their own motives. The liar thinks that everyone is going to lie to them because it is what they would do. The thief thinks everyone is going to steal from them because it is what they would do.

When someone wrongs us, the evil in our own hearts shows us the evil that must be the motive for said actions.

But .. Love thinks no evil.

If we are governed by the love of God that is shed abroad in our heart, we will assess the motivation of love. We will see the actions through the eyes of love.

Remember, when we judge without mercy, we erase God’s mercy. When we choose to withhold forgiveness, we cause God to withhold forgiveness for our actions. There is a direct correlation to how we manifest the love of God and how the love of God is meted to us.

The Bible records the story of the two servants that were in debt.

The first servant owed a debt to his master. The amount of this debt was ten thousand talents. For the sake of understanding how insurmountable this debt was, we have figured the conversions. F we use the Roman talent as our source, it converts to approximately $3.4 million in US dollars. If we go with the Jewish silver talent, it converts to just over $7 million in today’s US Dollars. If we use the Jewish gold talent, it converts to $112.6 million in US dollars. Using these, it is easy to see that this servant owed a debt that he would never be able to repay. In as much as he could not repay this debt, his master ordered that he be sold, and his family, and all that he had, in an effort to repay the debt. The servant fell to his knees and worshipped the master and begged for patience and time to repay the debt. The master was moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave the debt. The balances were cleared.

This servant, upon leaving the hall of the master, where he had just been so graciously and magnanimously forgiven a staggering debt, encountered the second servant of this story. The second servant owed a debt to the first. The forgiven servant laid hands on the debtor and demanded payment of the one hundred pence he was owed. One hundred pence converts to about five dollars and forty cents. The second servant asked for patience in repaying this debt. The servant, of whom a vast debt was forgiven, refused to allow this. He cast the second servant into prison until he could repay the debt.

Fellow servant of these two men went to the master with the story. The master was irate. He cast the first servant into prison until he could pay all that was due of him. His unforgiving heart caused the forgiveness of the master to be withdrawn.

Jesus concluded the story by telling those following, “So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.” (Matthew 18.35)

When we think evil, by the evil in our own hearts, we open ourselves to be judged by that same standard. Paul tells us the when would go to do good, evil would be present. In the flesh is no good thing. We are all still in the flesh. Therefore, we will contend with the works of the flesh. Paul tells us that the good he would do, he did not. The evil that he would not, that he did. (Romans 7.19)

Any of us, in the moment, may acquiesce to the flesh. We must remain vigilant. We must make sure the love of God is pushed into the forefront whenever we deal with people. I assure you, if anyone can be pushed into doing the wrong thing, or saying the wrong thing, people will do that to you. Nothing will get under your skin faster than people.

A flat tire on your way to work will irritate you. It will make you angry. You will feel your ire rise within you. However, it is a tire. It is not a willful being. It did not go flat merely to upset you. It is harnessed by the laws of physics and probability. Excessive use will cause wear and erode the integrity of the tire. If you drive, you take the risk of running over any number of sharp objects that are the enemy of your inflated tire.

A blown light bulb will irritate you. It also, however, follows the laws of physics. A light bulb is a limited time use object. The more you use it, the less time is left before it will blow. That light bulb, that has served you so faithfully, every time you flipped the switch, will eventually create enough wear (heating up and cooling down stresses and wears the lighting element) that it will break. There will be an arc (flash) as it breaks and then darkness. It has not waited until the best part of the novel. It has not planned this precise moment to create the optimal irritation.

People, however, will try your love.

I recently heard a preacher say that everyone wants justice, until it comes to them. We want everyone to understand if we have a bad day and snap off a wrong or hurtful word at the worst possible moment. We want people to be patient when we are dragging in to work, tired and dirty from changing our tire, and they are there waiting with their problems. We want everyone to appreciate when we are grumpy because we haven’t had our morning coffee.

Yet, we don’t want to give that same understanding when the shoe is on the other foot. I remind you here, as I have and will, when we think the worst (think evil) of others; we invite justice in our lives.

The Word tells us that we were the just captives of the devil. David said he was conceived in sin. He was sharpened in iniquity. I was at a church service a while back and walked into a conversation. One of the conversers asked me if I thought we would ever be free of the desires of the flesh. I responded thusly; in this life, we will always contend with flesh until this corruption puts on incorruption. We will wrestle with our Adamic nature until this mortal puts on immortality.

You will war against your flesh all the days of your life. I don’t want to present our flesh as an unbeatable foe. We can have victory. We can persevere. We can be victorious. We can love and think no evil. We can allow the love of God to judge others. We can allow the love of God to buffer the actions of people. When we think in love, we are thought of in love.

A fathers love ..

The love we have for our children cause us to not only expect the best of them, but it causes us to apply the best motives to their actions. We want to believe the best of our children. I recall the story of a mother that was present at her son’s graduation from Army boot camp. As his platoon marched around the corner and past the viewing stand, she remarked, “Look at my son. He is the only one marching in the proper step.” The reality of the situation was that her son was the only one marching out of step, but her love refused to think that her son could be out of step.

Even when our children are disobedient, we still love them.

One of my daughters ran away from home when she was 16 years old. She was gone for three days. In those three days, Kaye and I only slept when exhaustion would force us to sleep. We wore ourselves out seeking her. Everything in our world stopped for those days. When she came home, she told me that she was afraid that I wouldn’t love her anymore.

I sat her down and explained this to her. “I will never ‘not love’ you. There is nothing you can do to change this. You may, and probably will make decisions in your life, of which, I will not agree. I may not always think you have made the right choice or done the right thing. However, there will never be a day when I will see you walking down the street that I will cross so that I don’t run into you. There will never be a day that I will not call you my daughter.”

This is the love that thinks no evil. Every sinner that you encounter is a disobedient creation of God. We share a common calling. We are both immersed in a common love. The love that God has for me is the same as the love He has for every sinner you will meet. They may have not made the right choices, but they are still loved by God. They may not be doing the right things, but still the love that held Him to the cross, calls for them.

Solomon wrote in the Book of Proverbs, that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. We like to think we are logical mind thinking beings, but we are far from it. We are a seething mass of emotions. We are governed by our emotions. We make decisions, not on how they look, but on how they feel. We think with our hearts more often than we think with our minds.

A preacher I heard many years ago (1984 .. I still have the cassette) talked about a time in his life when he was dealing with turmoil. His mind was pulling in one direction and his heart was tugging in another. He stated that he thought he was losing his mind. He broke down and went to a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist told him when the heart and the mind agree, there is harmony in our lives. However, when the heart and mind are at opposition to each other, the result is turmoil. The preacher asked the doctor, to which should he listen. This psychiatrist, this learned doctor of the mind, told him to listen to his heart.

We have the love of God shed abroad in our hearts. It should be the governor of our actions. More than that, it will be the governor of our actions. We will act according to the dictates of our heart. The real man resides in the heart.

The servant, forgiven of much debt, revealed his heart when he took the owing servant by the neck and cast him into prison for the smaller debt. The evil in his heart prevailed.

David was a man after God’s own heart. Yes, he made mistakes. Yes, he failed at times. Yes, he listened to his flesh at times. However, there was a heart beating in his chest that had characteristics like God.

We must have the love of God in our hearts to purge the evil within it.

This week, I heard a preacher say, “Love is the irreducible minimum of following Christ.” What did he mean? He meant, as a child of God, as a follower of Christ, the smallest part, the one thing that cannot be reduced any farther, is love. If we are a child of God, we will have love.

As we are learning together in this series of studies, love is a complex simple word. Mankind throws it around as if it is nothing. We treat it as if it were a shiny bauble we found in the snow, but it is a treasure of incalculable value. It is the first of the fruits and the basis of all the others. It is the beginning of service and the foundation of a life in God. It is the governor of our actions. It is the ruler of our thoughts.

It is the one thing capable of purging the evil from our hearts.

Love thinks no evil.

Next: Love does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth.

Love: Part Eight

This is the eighth installment in our series on Love.

As stated previously, all of us were created with the capacity to love and the desire to be loved. It is within us all. Everyone loves someone or something.

The Bible says that we can tell a lot about a person by the things they love. It tells us that some men love the darkness because their deeds are evil. It speaks to us of some that love money. It proclaims that there will be those that love themselves more than others.

I was walking through the books of 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd John this week, and heard much about love.

1^st John 4:20 “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, cannot love God whom he hath not seen.”

One of the greatest proofs of our conversion is the love of God in our hearts from the Spirit of adoption. (Romans 8.15) If a man professes to love God, and yet indulges himself in anger or revenge, or shows a selfish disposition to his fellow man, the Word tells us that he is a liar. The love of God shed abroad in our hearts will change our natural enmity into affection and gratitude. It is in this that we are different from our worldly counterparts. It is in our overwhelming expressions of love that we differ from the false prophet. I know that may seem like harsh wording, but a prophet professes and if he does not possess the object of his profession, then he is indeed a false prophet.

A Christian (Christ-like professor) does not hate his brother whom he has seen. Let us understand the usage of the word here. The Greek word used is ‘miseo’ which means ‘to detest (especially to persecute); by extension to love less’ John says if we show less love to our brother than we would to God, then we cannot claim to be a Child of God. The Word clearly tells us that God is love.

His love is the motivation, the drive, and moral cause of ours. We cannot help but love so good a God, who was first in the act and work of love; He who loved us when we were both unloving and unlovely; He who loved us at so great a rate; He who has been seeking and soliciting our love at the expense of Christ’s blood; and has condescended to beseech us to be reconciled unto him. His love is the productive cause of ours: Of his own will begat he us. To those that love him all things work together for good, to those who are the called according to his purpose. Those that love God are the called thereto according to his purpose

This was a love, for which we did not seek, nor did we earn in any way. Mankind was not out looking for a way to be reconciled to God. The sacrifice of Christ was not due to our seeking a redemptive work, but rather, His love and desire for a return to the fellowship between God and man, for which man was created.

Love teaches us to suffer for him and with him; therefore we may trust that we shall also be glorified with him. His love for us made us joint heirs of the grace of God.

Love:

• Is not easily provoked

One of the many characteristics of love is shared in several thoughts. This is one such shared thought. Love is not easily provoked. It is seen also in the long suffering of love. This long suffering causes the heart to act, not react to stimulus. It also ties in the fact that love does not vaunt itself. It is not rash. This will also tie in some of the other qualities of love, as well. We will bring them in as we progress and touch upon them. We will explain in greater detail when we reach each one.

It is easy to see that if love suffers long that it would not be easily provoked. However, it is more than just the long suffering of love that prevents the provoking. Jesus was provoked many times and many times held His righteous indignation in check.

The Word tells us that love is not easily provoked. Does this convey than that while it is not an easy act to provoke love, that it can still be done? Can we say then that a man or woman under the influence of the love of God is not prone to violent outbursts of anger or irritation?

It is not their character to be hasty, excited, or obsessive. They are calm, serious, and patient. They look soberly at things; and though they may be injured, yet they govern their passions, restrain their temper, and subdue their feelings. The natural inclination of flesh is to retaliate. We say that we give as good as we get. We return tit for tat. This, Paul says, would be produced by love. And this is apparent. If we are under the influence of benevolence, or love to anyone, we shall not give way to sudden bursts of feeling. We shall look kindly on their actions; put the best construction on their motives; deem it possible that we have mistaken the nature or the reasons of their conduct; seek or desire explanation wait till we can look at the case in all its bearings; and suppose it possible that they may be influenced by good motives, and that their conduct will admit a satisfactory explanation.

How many times has humanity provoked the holiness of God? How many times have we, individually tried the patience of God? How often have we found ourselves at an altar crying out to a merciful God? How many times have we felt that gentle loving hand of correction as He tries to lead us back to the fold?

He left the ninety and nine to find that one that was lost. How easy it would have been to leave it out there to its own devices. How simple it would have been to become exasperated as time and time again this one wandered away. Whether by will or simply distraction, how easy it would be to walk away. Love constrains Him. Love will not allow him to leave one lamb out there. This is the love we are to exhibit. Though they try us sore, we will not abandon them to the wiles and trickery of the enemy. Although we have nursed them through it before, His love compels us.

The story in the Word about the servant that was forgiven a great debt to his master and then turned around and required a much smaller debt to him be paid or the debtor be cast into prison comes to mind. The conversion rate of money value then to now puts his debt in the millions of dollars. He stood before his master without a defense. The debt was valid. The fault was his. The master forgives the debt. Then, after leaving the house of the master, with this great weight lifted from his life, he encounter a man that owes him a paltry sum. This man begs for time to repay his debt. The fist servant refuses and orders the family of the second servant to be sold and the servant to be cast into prison.

How easily are we provoked by the sins of others when the Master has forgiven our great debt of sin?

Judge not, for with the same mercy you judge, you shall be judged. God is saying, “I have judged you with great mercy. Judge others according the example of how I have judged you.” Judgment is an act of provocation. God is saying, be provoked as I am provoked. My love stayed my judgment. If you judge without my mercy, you will replace my mercy with the same mercy you show. If you will be provoked, then I will be provoked.

Love is not easily provoked.

As stated, this quality of love is related to several of the other qualities of love already mentioned and some of the ones yet to be covered, but let’s not get lost in that fact. This is not merely the restating of other qualities, or the reemphasizing of said qualities. There is a redundancy of statements and habits of Christians in the Word. The Bible itself tells us that things are to be confirmed by the mouth of at least two and sometimes three witnesses. While this could be an example of that, I feel it is more than that.

The long suffering aspect of our love deals with many different forms of antagonism. Life, in and of itself, creates antagonism. Things do not always go our way. There are life issues that we must contend with daily that try our long to suffer long. Paul talked about his thorn in the flesh. This was not the quick flash of the dagger of antagonism. This was a long abiding, deeply residing issue that Paul dealt with on a continual basis. Paul’s thorn provoked the long suffering quality of the Love of God abiding within him.

We can also liken this aspect of the love shed abroad in our hearts to the aspect of not acting rashly. Certainly, reacting to a provocation would be to act in a rash manner; however, not every provocation produces a rash action. Sometimes the result of a provocation is a long stewed plan of attack.

I recall the story that my father used to tell the church about a man on his job (he worked construction as an electrician) that tried him daily. He provoked him as often as he could. Dad said that one morning he made up his mind that if this fellow pushed him that day, he was just going to hit him. Dad felt that he had reached his point. The day wore on and sure enough this provocateur began his daily barrage. Just as dad was about to turn and unleash, a fellow worker standing near, hit the man and told him to shut up. He told the man they were tired of his constant onslaught against dad. God fought dad’s battle that day.

While this story illustrates the proviso of God to protect His own, it also demonstrates that the reaction to provocation is not always a rash action. This was something dad had thought out many times. I do not know how long or how many times dad was provoked. I do know that the Word tells us that we will not be tempted (tried) above that we are able to stand. Therefore, while this can be related to long suffering and acting rash, it also stands on its own two feet.

Provocation can come quickly or slowly.

Casting Crowns has a song called “Love them like Jesus.” The chorus says, “So love them like Jesus, love them like Jesus, You don’t need the answers to all of life’s questions, just know that He loves them and stay by their side, Love them like Jesus, Love them like Jesus.

We are to love as he loved. When we don’t love like Jesus, we replace the unconditional love of Jesus in our lives with our conditional love. Can we grasp this concept? When we are provoked by the actions of others easily, we open ourselves to be handled the same way by God.

How many times in our lives have we provoked God? How many times have we willingly and knowingly sinned after coming to the knowledge of Christ? When we stood in the place of the ungodly, His love prevented His holiness from becoming provoked and unleashing His wrath.

In his letter to the churches at Galatia, Paul spoke to those that had issues with the Gentiles not submitting to the ritual of circumcision. He reminded them that circumcision was under the law. He further told them that if they were going to hold to the law in circumcision, that they would be debtors to the whole law. Even further still, if they were to hold to this ritual under the law, and were to become a debtor to the whole law, they erased the effect of the crucifixion of Christ in their lives.

If you hold to a part of the law, you are held to all of the law.

If you judge without mercy, you will be judged without mercy.

If you withhold forgiveness, forgiveness will be withheld from you.

If the love you posses does not keep you from being provoked by the acts of others, then your acts will be subject to provoking god.

In the engine of my truck, there are pistons that move back and forth in a cylinder. Fuel is introduced into the cylinder, and compressed; then ignited creating an explosion, forcing the piston out of the cylinder. The movement of this piston in concert with 3, 5, or 7 others turns the crankshaft. This constant movement creates a great amount of friction. To minimize the effect/damage of this friction, lubricating oil is used.

Love is the lubricating oil that allows us to interact with others without being provoked. It is the oil that reduces the effect of wear and the damage of heat in our relationships.

Love is not easily provoked.

Next: Love thinks no evil ..