Love: the Greatest Gift (Part 5)

Verse of the day: 1 Corinthians 13:5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;

The next two characteristics of love can go hand in hand, and are ones that can easily trip us up in our walk with God. Love is not easily provoked, or thinks no evil. In other words, a person who truly loves others does not go into fits of rage or lose their temper easily, becoming excited and spewing venomous words, when faced with difficulty or opposition. The Scripture warns us to avoid the type of anger that causes us to sin (Eph 4:26), whether in our words, attitude, or actions. James 1:9 tells us to be slow to anger. Proverbs 15:18 warns that a hot-tempered person stirs up strife. Proverbs 16:32 tells us that a person who controls their temper is better than the mighty. It takes much for us not to lose our temper and say or do something that is hurtful toward the person who injured us first; whether the injury was intentional or not. In some instances the other person may not really have done something that called for an angry response. It may be the result of a miscommunication or misunderstanding. When we truly want to take the “love” approach, we will do all we can to understand before we respond. This is where thinking no evil comes into play. As born again Christians, we are to give the other person the benefit of the doubt, and not assume that the other person intentionally did whatever they did to offend us. Along with being slow to possibly make a false accusation about the other person’s intentions, we must also not think evil in the sense of devising ways to seek revenge against others. God tells us that vengeance belongs to Him (Rom 12:17-19). When we love as Christ loves, we will not harbor the kind of thoughts that increase our bitterness and cause us to hold on to an unforgiving attitude. When we think of how often we offend God, yet He forgives us if we repent and confess our faults, how can we in turn continue to hold other people’s faults against them? Ephesians 4:31-32 tells us to put away bitterness, wrath, anger, and evil speaking, and be kind, tender-hearted, and forgive; just as God forgives us for Christ’s sake. The bottom line is that love is slow to react when there is a possibility that we can be brought to anger and sin against God, and our brother/sister. We are to avoid immediately thinking that whatever has happened, especially if it affects us, was done with the intention of harming us or with malicious motivation. After all, only the Lord really knows the intentions of a person’s heart, and it is best to always make a personal judgment on the side of grace until proven otherwise; and even so, if the motive was to intentionally offend us, the best approach is to forgive, and give it over to God.

Our God has been given much cause to be angry with us, and even wipe us out. Instead, He chose to send His Son to die for us, and pay the price that we deserve to pay (2 Cor 5:21; 1 Jn 2:2). Today, He extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing their sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His free gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).