Today will be my last installment on "love." Learning about God's love can be difficult. 1 John ch 2 vs 15 says: "Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." This teaching is easily understandable when we consider "bad" things like drugs, hatred, alcohol, racism, etc. But does the verse mean about good things such as our children, spouses, or ministry activities? Clearly it is okay to love our spouses but just not more than we love God. God has to come first in our love above all other things.
Let me complete the "love checkup" I started last time. I reviewed 1 Corinthians ch 13 vs 4 & 5. Today, I will finish vs 6-8. Writing about love, Paul says in verse 6 that love "does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;." This verse is hard to know exactly how to apply it in today's world. What exactly does rejoicing in unrighteousness mean? Recently I was listening to some Beatles music with my boys which they really like. By today's standards their music is pretty tame but they were an ungodly group of men who hated God. So, is it okay to listen to their music since they clearly were unrighteous? I am still wrestling with that one. If you have a definite answer write and let me know. How about going to movies with alot of ungodly violence, sex, or profanity? The more I study God's Word, the more I think we should avoid movies with inappropriate content. Phillipians ch 4 vs 8 says: "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things." I am not sure that movies with violence, sex, and profanity would qualify with Paul's instruction in Phillipians. There are any number of things that could be excluded from my participation in order to not rejoice in unrighteousness. If I am not sure, I pray, seek Godly counsel and search my Bible.
The last part of the verse "but rejoices with the truth" I believe refers to Jesus. Jesus said; "I am the way, the truth, and the life..." I should rejoice in anything that Jesus would rejoice in and in nothing else.
Verse 7 says love, "bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." The phrase "bears all things" is again a difficult phrase. The version of the Bible I am using is the NASB. The NIV says in verse 7: "It always protects...". Those two phrases seem to have somewhat different meanings. Bears all things, means to me that I "put up with" and continue to act lovingly even when someone else may act evil towards me or towards my children. It means that I do not retaliate when I or someone I love is wronged by someone else. Bears all things is one of the hardest parts of this passage for me. Believes all things means I need to have a trusting spirit even when I have been tricked before. I do not think it means we foolishly put ourself in harms way only to pray to God for deliverance if things go bad. But I should trust poeple and be willing to give second chances whenever possible.
"Hopes all things," for me means that I expect a good outcome if not in this life then I certainly have the assurance of my salvation and know that in a few short years I will be in heaven enjoying paradise and worshiping God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit! "Endures all things," is similar to bears all things. I again must have great patience and be willing to forgive not seven times as Peter asked, but forgive unlimited times.
Finally the first phrase of verse 8 reads: "Love never fails;..." Love never fails means that I never give up on people, never stop loving them, and never stop doing all the things listed in verses 4-7 of 1 Corinthians ch 13.
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