Sat Inspiration

Morning Inspiration with Pastor Merritt

More from Paul about what real love looks like.

“It does not dishonor others.” (I Corinthians 13:5)

Another way to say this is, “Love is not rude or ill-mannered.” Love doesn’t cut the other person down and it doesn’t cut the other person short. Love doesn’t interrupt when the other person is talking and love doesn’t ignore the other person when the other person is trying to talk. Any of those things, quite simply, dishonors other people and it is rude. How does your love measure up and how is it working out for you?

“It is not self-seeking.” (I Corinthians 13:5)

To put it another way, it doesn’t always insist in getting its own way. If anything defines real love it is this - love is a self-less love. The greatest example of this is Jesus. If Jesus had had His own way He would have not gone to the cross. If Jesus had been self-seeking we would all be on the ocean of sin in a boat without a paddle, but real love says, “I have made a commitment to put your needs ahead of my needs.” Real love doesn’t say, “What can you do for me?” Real love says, “What can I do for you?” How does your love measure up and how is your love working out for you?

“It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” (I Corinthians 13:5)

The word that Paul uses here for keeping a record is an accounting term or a bookkeeping term. It literally says, “Love doesn’t keep a ledger of bad deeds.” Love doesn’t keep a list in its back pocket to pull out whenever you need to remind someone of when they did you wrong. Love not only has a long fuse, but it has a short memory. Real love not only doesn’t keep a record of the wrongs that have been done to you, but it is a refusal to keep a record of the things you have done right for the other person.

Let me make this real simple. Love doesn’t hold a grudge. Love is both quick to forgive and quick to forget. That is not always easy. C.S. Lewis once said, “Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea until they have something to forgive.” How does your love measure up and how is it working out for you?

Finally,

“Love does not delight in evil.” (I Corinthians 13:6)

This may be the hardest part of real love of all. Love rejoices with the truth. Do you know what that means? When you really love someone you are willing to tell him or her the truth when they need to hear it and you are willing to receive the truth from them when you need to hear it. We talk about communicating in a marriage? You cannot have communication in a marriage unless it is both give and take. If you are not willing to speak the truth to your spouse, you don’t love them. If you are not willing to hear the truth from your spouse, you don’t love them either. How does your love measure up and how is it working out for you?