“Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil.”
1 Corinthians 13 gives the biblical definition of love. The love that is mentioned here is God’s kind of love that is sacrificial and active. We usually associate love with feelings, and that is valid, but God’s kind of love and what I call “real Christian love” acts on its feelings, just as God did in sending His Son to die for our sins. We need to remind ourselves that love is ultimately important in the Christian’s life, because Jesus commanded that we love. “Love…Does not behave itself unseemly.” The NIV translation of this is “love is not rude.” I love both translations because they tell us that we need to be aware of how we are being perceived by the world. I remember mama telling me when I misbehaved (I should have added rare times. lol) that I was “acting ugly.” That’s what “unseemly” reminds me of. We need to be careful not to act ugly. We also need to be careful that we are not rude. People who know such things say that waiters and waitresses say that the most difficult people to wait on are those who come in from church on Sunday. This should not be. If we want the world to take us seriously, and take our faith seriously, we will remember to behave ourselves in public – and in private. Sometimes other people’s behavior does not lend itself to not being rude, but we need to let that be their problem. Jesus told us not to retaliate against people. “Love…seeks not her own.” Another translation of this is “love is not selfish.” The NIV translates it “love is not self-seeking.” We might even give the more radical translation “love is not greedy.” We have all heard the definition of Joy as: Jesus – Others – Yourself - in that order. That was not a problem for me to write at all, and it is no problem to talk about it, however, living up to it is a real challenge. We might be surprised at how much we think of ourselves in a given day. If we tried to count them, we might lose count. It is not wrong for us to take care of ourselves, but it is wrong when we are obsessed with ourselves and live our lives that way. We need to make a conscious effort to reach out in praise to God and in ministry to others. “Love… is not easily provoked.” The NIV translation of this is “love is not easily angered. “ Anger itself is not a sin. Jesus was angry at various times in the Gospels. When He cleansed the temple, let us say that He was not smiling. He had every reason to be angry. But at the same time when Jesus was mistreated at His trial and in the subsequent crucifixion, He did not lash out in anger. We need to learn how to be angry at things that should make us angry, and to not be provoked by things that will ruin our witness if we lash out in anger. I am not claiming that this is easy; I am suggesting that it is important. Fits of temper at an inopportune time can be hurtful to our witness. We need to work on it. “Love…thinks no evil. Our lives are defined by what we think about. I know that you already know that thoughts become actions. We need to be careful what we allow in our minds. The world gives us plenty of opportunity to think evil thoughts. I know this, not because somebody told me, but by what I experience on a daily basis. We can easily think lustful thoughts if we do not guard our minds. We can also think evil about other people if we are not careful. Love will make us keep a close guard on our thoughts. To be continued….. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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