Day 11 builds on 1 Corinthians 13,
"Love is patient, Love is kind. Love does not envy, Love does not boast, Love is not proud. Love is not self-seeking, Love is not easily angered, Love keeps no record of wrongs, Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Love always protects, Love always trusts, Love always hopes, always perseveres."
Love always trusts!!!
Always???
According to Paul, love always trusts.
Let's look at a different translation of this passage.
"Love believes all things"
Always!!!
We all are a work in progress, we all are to daily try to be more Christ like.
We all can usually admit that we have trust issues.
At least I will!
I have a hard time trusting people that have proven themselves to be a complete
train wreck in the past.
So what is trust anyways? Does it mean that we blindly allow people to continually hurt us in the same way?
I think that the way that NIV translates this passage brings a lot of negative connotations along with it.
Other translations say that Love believes all things.
So, what does it mean to 'believe all things?'
Let's take a look at the cheating spouse.
A wife who allows her husband to reenter her life after he has violated the very foundation of their marriage. He has chosen to step outside of the marriage to fulfill a selfish desire. What makes her ever let him return?
She 'believes all things!'
She believes that the decision he made was wrong.... but she believes in him, that God can and will change his heart.
Now what do we say about a spouse that cheats over and over and over again?
Is love also ignorant? Does love have no value for self?
Love doesn't say push me around, trample me, lie, cheat, steal, and rob my joy...
Instead love says, I believe all things that God says about you to be true. If God says that we are His children... well then... we are.
Sometimes it is pride that gets in the way of loving someone enough to say "enough is enough".
If a person is too proud to reach out to others for help because they feel others will judge, think less of, whatever the case may be... then you are not in the position to love your cheating spouse the way God asks you to.
Trusting in other people is also telling them what is okay... Is it okay that someone continually cheats on you? No, and believing all things is saying I love us enough to seek total restoration and allow others (pastors, counselors, friends, family) to enter the picture so that what I believe to be true about you can be restored.
We all know people that arrive hours late for things, don't respect others time, make a scene, embarrass, gossip, lie, tell half-truths, abuse with manipulation, control, steal, laugh, belittle.... the list goes on and on....
How do we reconcile what Paul says about love and how we respond to others.
We do it by "believing all things!"
You believe that someone will behave differently... If it is a time issue... Remove that expectation. Say to yourself,
"I will continue on with my day as planned even if they arrive late."
Choose to no longer allow someone else's actions to dictate your reaction.
Make a choice to love differently.
When you are around someone that is known to gossip... believe all things... change the conversation, stand up for the one being gossiped about.
Believe that the person is who God says they are....
In families we see people that refuse to give up on, let go of and say goodbye to God's best in others lives... why??? Because that person 'believes all things."
That person believes that the other person has a unique role to play on this earth and that it isn't just to constantly make your life miserable.
People generally don't fulfill their potential unless someone believes in them.
Moses killed a man and ran away for forty years... God saw his full potential and chose to use him to lead His people out of slavery.
David took another man's wife and slept with her. He committed murder and yet God still saw his full potential... He made David king over all of His people.
Paul who wrote this chapter on love... He was a murderer of Christians. He gathered up men to travel around with him and murder those who professed faith in Christ. God saw the "best in him." He made Paul one of the most influential people for the advancement of the church. He established churches and helped show them how to live life to glorify God. God used this very untrustworthy guy to write the love chapter and a large section of the new testament.
We will never be perfect in the way we trust people. We need to practice wisdom and always ask your self am I applying all areas of love if I allow this to happen again.
Only God can change someone's heart... You can't!!! You can only "believe all things."
If you are the wife that has stayed with your husband for decades 'believing all things' let me applaud your love.
If you are the wife that has stayed and not asked for help... let me encourage you by saying... you cannot change the situation. Only God can. Please allow others to help.
If you are the mom of the wayward child... you do it because you "believe all things." Keep loving that child but you can't allow that child to abuse, take advantage and destroy you in the process of loving them.
Who today have you been believing all things for?
Who needs you to see them as God sees them?
Who needs you to love yourself so that you can begin to believe all things for yourself.
Life never happens alone... We need others to process life with.
Today will you choose to love intentionally?
This one is especially tender to me. For anyone out there reading this blog. I hope you will read and re-read this one. You must believe in love and you must be carefully not to let a person or situation steal you of your desire to love. I know this from experience. Please my friend, Love Intentionally - thank you Nicole so very much for doing this series, how precious it has been to me. Thank you - M
ReplyDeleteTrust is a funny thing for sure!! Martha, I know that your story and so many other people's is full of times when trust was violated and sought to rob God's best from you. Thank you for being an example of a 1 Peter wife. Pursue God's best. He is writing a love story for the world to hear. --Nicole
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