“What Love Really Looks Like!” #7
Text:
1 Corinthians 13 vs 5
“Love
Does Not Take Into Account A Wrong Suffered!”
“Thinketh
No Evil!”
Love is ALWAYS
Positive, In thought, action, memory, and intent! The cultural definition of love is vague at best,
watered down, these days it's just a word used loosely, typically to
get an advantage or a desired outcome! We're so removed from the practical use of the word
but what's scary is how far removed we've become from the spiritual
weight of the word! Let's review what we've covered about real agape Love; Love is patient, Love is Kind and is Not Jealous, Love does not brag and is
not arrogant, Love does
not act unbecomingly, Love does not seek his own, and Love is not provoked!
In each blog post I want to view the particular picture of
love in these scenarios, Spiritually, Specifically, and Socially!
What does the scripture mean when it says that love thinks no evil nor remembers a wrong suffered?
Agape love can only be experienced and given through
GRACE, the mercy of God in forgiving us through His great love allows
us to forgive even the most egregious sins and evils rendered against
us and go even further by acting in Love towards the one whom we
suffered wrongs by!
This phrase consists of three words in the greek -
no,
not; in direct questions expecting an affirmative answer
Love forgets, love forgives, we see this in psalm
103 when God says that as far as the east is from the west, he has
removed our sins! Real love must move past the wrongs done and continue in actions of love! Love is a choice of the one who is doing the loving, not the one being loved! There's nothing anyone can do to make you stop loving them! That's your choice alone!
1.) Specifically
* Person to Person Relationships, spouses, friends,
siblings, etc. *
Today is slightly different as all three will be seen
in the life of one man....... Joseph! First, Specifically with his brothers in Genesis 50
Genesis 50:14-21King James Version (KJV)
14 And
Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went
up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.
15 And
when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said,
Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all
the evil which we did unto him.
17 So
shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of
thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we
pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy
father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.
18 And
his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said,
Behold, we be thy servants.
20 But
as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good,
to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
21 Now
therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And
he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.
Though Joseph was almost murdered by his brothers had Rueben not talked them out of it, though he was abused and sold into slavery, he loved anyway! When the day came that his brothers needed his help, Joseph loved in action and deed!
2.) Socially
* Individual to Society, to Individuals with which we
don't have a “personal” bond. *
Here we see it in the reaction Joseph has to those who
purchased him as a slave, to Potiphar and his wife's accusations, to
the prison guard, and even unto Pharaoh! Joseph was able to live this life in complete abandon
because he trusted the great sovereignty of God! Let us keep in mind this idea, Joseph, acting in
forgiveness and love, was not for the benefit of those upon whom it
was acted out but for Joseph himself! Joseph's actions of love and forgiveness lead to him
fulfilling the divine purpose of God in his life! Joseph didn't deny Potiphar, his wife, or anyone else food during the famine! He didn't take vengeance once he acquired power. It's easy to forgive and love at all costs when you trust the sovereignty and justice of the God of glory!
3.) Spiritually
* God to Man and Man to God! *
- Spiritually is the most important as it's correct
position will produce the first two! -
-
Man to God -
Once again we go to Genesis 50, Joseph never charges
God with injustice, never responds in anger, even while being in
prison, and never questions God's motives! He knew God was just, and
holy, and in complete control! Had he had any other response, not
only would Joseph's family, his father, and his friends have died but
Joseph himself would have died! The gravity of that statement must be felt in this, If
Joseph and his family had died, God would have been a liar because the seed of Abraham wouldn't have been blessed in may nations, nor would the linage persist that was to bring the root of David, Christ Jesus! Isn't the gravity of obedience in focus now? -
-
God to Man -
Romans 5:8King James Version (KJV)
Hebrews 8:12King James Version (KJV)
12 For
I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their
iniquities will I remember no more.
If God's love depended on our actions towards him, we'd all be crushed by His wrath and burning in eternal torment in Hell right now!
If I could sum it up I'd say this; Love looks past, even forgets, the evil of the world,
especially the wrongs suffered at the hands of men! Love acts in the
face of what seems like injustice!
(22)
Thou
shalt heap coals of fire on his head.—Thou
shalt make him burn with shame at the thought of
the wrong he has done thee. Thus, to bring a sinner to repentance is
well-pleasing to the Lord, who shall reward thee for it. This is
better far than to indulge resentment, which must bring sorrow to
oneself, punishment from God—whose prerogative of vengeance (Romans
12:19)
has been usurped—and only serve to harden the offender in his
hostility.
-
Love, the only thing that can truly conquer the enemy! Hate! -
The Excellence of Love
1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.
