1 Corinthians 13:7a love Beareth all things

Here is a prime example of how agape love acts and gives us an opportunity to measure ourselves in comparison. God’s agape love never changes because of circumstances. I could get extreme here but I don’t think it would gain us anything of value.

So what is a less dramatic example of those things we can bear up to in life? How about when people are rude to you? Is it easier now than before you came to Christ to put up with rude people? Do you still take it personally or do you see their rejection as rejecting the Lord and not you?

When people get snippy with you, do you snipe back or hold your tongue? Are you getting better at resisting old negative reactions? While God’s perfect love does not change and can bear up to anything, all we can expect realistically is to get better at loving like God loves. His abiding love is an encouragement to better behavior.

The more difficult or severe the suffering is that we are asked to endure, the more we have to rely on God’s enhancement of our soul. We will never know unless we are tested and we do get tested. Life itself, even without the devil’s hand, is a test of endurance. I won’t rely on the old tired adage, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I rather believe what the Lord does in us makes it easier to endure.

I think that is a fair comparison of agape love and our ability to grow in that love. While I don’t want you to be too harsh on yourselves, I also do not wish for you to be complacent with your current performance. We need to strive for better than before. Small gains are better than none.

1 Corinthians 13:6 love Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

Rejoice in the Greek is χαίρω chaírō, khah’-ee-ro; a primary verb; to be “cheer”ful, i.e. calmly happy or well-off; impersonally, especially as salutation (on meeting or parting), be well:—farewell, be glad, God speed, greeting, hail, joy(- fully), rejoice.

Sometimes I like to take a definition to the extreme just to see how ridiculous it sounds.

What does joyfully hail sound like? Think about a football player doing his custom made victory dance after scoring a touchdown. How ridiculous would it look to act like that after you sin any sin? Pick your favorite sin and take a victory lap in your mind. Looks ridiculous doesn’t it?

When you sin that is exactly what the devil is doing.

To be fair that kind of reaction to truth would look ridiculous too. The reaction from Jesus when we embrace truth would most like be exactly that, an embrace. He might even whisper in your ear, “Yes.”

While my image of an extreme reaction to sin is unlikely, it begs to ask; how do you feel about sin? Does it bother you at all? Does it bother you just the right amount? Do you have an obsessive compulsive hatred of sin?

During my review of the various translation there were a couple that pointed directly at other people’s sins. Do we ever take pleasure in other people’s sins? Do we ever take pleasure in other people’s sins being exposed? Do you take pleasure in just the accusation of sin?

Perhaps this is why Paul’s comparative of iniquity is with truth and not righteousness.