(Love) "bears all things, believes all things, hopes allthings, endures all things."
Please take the time to sit alone in a quiet space as you read today's devotion. Don't rush through it and go on about your day for this is such an important message that needs to be meditated on, understood, and digested for it to take root in your heart. It is a crucial truth that needs to be understood by the body of Christ because it is the very thing that is lacking and causing division among the body. So as you read this pray for the Holy Spirit to grant you wisdom so youare able to understand it and then to walk it out in your daily life. I am breaking this verse up into two parts beginning with the phrases "bears all things" and "endures all things" and then tomorrow we will look at the phrases "believes all things" and "hopes all things".
When Paul says that love bears and endures all things he is not talking about just having the strength to endure when you are going through a trial. He is talking about love that covers the ugly sin of another person's life.He is speaking of the love of Christ that bore our sins in His body on the Cross and then covered them with His blood.The blood of Jesus Christ conceals the sins of man and when God looks at us as New Covenant Disciples He sees us through that blood. He no longer sees us as sinners and He no longer sees our sin. He sees us as His righteousness and He sees us as NEW creations in Him. It is man who looks upon man and sees a sinner and it is man who exposes and brings the sin of another man's life into illumination, not God!
This is the very thing that Paul is trying to get the Corinthian Church and us to understand because it was causing division then and it is exactly what causes division in the body of Christ today. The verbs in this verse are present tense which tells us that these are attitudes and expressions of love that we are to have in our everyday life. But it is not possible to execute these attitudes and expressions of love in the flesh. It is only possible to execute them by the power of the Holy Spirit who indwells us! You see only the Holy Spirit can remind us of God's love that flows through us and that this love covered ALL sin with the shed blood of Jesus Christ!
When we allow the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us in this truth we can execute this love of bearing and enduring all things which means to cover, conceal, and silence! It literally means to cover as in a roof that covers the house and keeps out the rain or a ship whose steel sides keep the water from coming into the hull of the ship. True love NEVER broadcasts another person's sin and it NEVER openly exposes that sin through gossip! This love in operation is what keeps the heart from becoming embittered and it keeps the heart rooted in grace!
The love of God that bears and endures all things does not criticize, point out faults, spread gossip, point fingers, or expose! On the contrary it conceals, covers, protects, and silences! It is the expression of love that Jesus showed to ALL the people He encountered who were caught in sin and exposed by man. He knew their sin but didn't expose it! He knew the effects of their sin but didn't illuminate it! He didn't speak of it and condemn them for it! He covered it, concealed it, and then on the Cross He erased it!
Some of you might say, "But what about the person who is abusing someone or the person who is doing something illegal; what about this kind of sin?" There are laws of the land that require us to report illegal activity but the love of God in us is NOT to announce the sin to the world or to illuminate it or cast judgment on the person who has committed the sin. We are to follow Christ's example! This is what Paul is talking about in this passage. When we walk in this kind of love it empowers us to pray for the person who commits the sin. It keeps us from becoming embittered and enraged at the person. It protects our hearts from becoming hardened. It keeps our minds focused on the redemptive power of Jesus Christ to redeem the life of the person caught in sin. It securely fastens us to the grace that was freely given to us through Jesus Christ which keeps us humble and protected from becoming prideful and in danger of falling into a sinful action ourselves!
This love of God that bears and endures all things is complete and lacking nothing! And it is God's perfect love in us that casts out the fear that makes us want to expose and illuminate another's man's sin. It is the perfect love of God in us that conceals a matter and doesn't repeat it to a noninvolved party. Tomorrow we will look at what it means for love to believe and hope all things. May we all come to the maturity of wisdom as we learn to love with a Christ centered love and may we be able to discern the truth and walk in it daily.
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