Love - "it keeps no record of wrongs"

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self‑seeking, it is not easily angered; it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a NIV

I have loved this passage since I found it left in a desk at a job I had taken years ago. Of course, at that time I had no idea it was from the bible. This seems wrong since I was taken to church every Sunday till I started working at 16. But then again when I look back and realize that church was all we had growing up unless it was Christmas or Easter. I, for more reasons than one, definitely did not grow up in a Christian home.

So why is this one of my favorites? Well, because it expresses all that love is supposed to be. As a matter of fact, Paul wrote it to the Corinthians, along with several other letters, to explain how they should live as Christians. It also expresses how big love is. Just think God loves us and covers all these aspects in His love for us. He is patient and kind. He does not envy us nor does He boast about His love for us. He is not seeking us to love Him and only Him. He may be disappointed in what we do at times He does not get angry and He always forgives us. God does not delight in or like evil. He wants us to be truthful in all aspects of our lives. He protects us, trusts and hopes we will follow His plan for us. He is persistent in guiding us even in the worst of situations in our lives. Ultimately, God’s love for us never fails. So, if you ever feel as though no one loves you remember that God always does and will!

I have a picture of this passage hanging in my bathroom. As many times, as I have looked at the picture I hadn’t really read it closely for a while. But when looking at it recently this stood out to me: it keeps no record of wrongs. So why would this stand out so much to me? Because of my childhood. Most every little, or big, mistake I made was remembered and used against me at a later time. I could never do anything wrong without a mistake I made in the past being mentioned that may or may have not been similar to what I had just done. I was told time and again that I could never be trusted because of something I did long ago. And no, none of it was dangerous, unlawful, or violent. The worst was having lied about something at one point or another. My family didn’t know what love was, not really. You had, or at least I did, to earn and deserve it, you weren’t just loved. I was even told that once after giving my mom a gift. “Buying” her love was farthest from my mind. I saw something I wanted her to have and got it for her. Now I don’t think that God expects us to forget how someone hurt us, treated us, etc, nor does He expect or want us to have to continue living with that person so they can continue their behavior. He just wants us to forgive them and move on in our lives instead of let the hurt control our lives. He also wants us to love, even those that have hurt us, as He loves us and them. Believe me, it’s all to easy to let hurts and emotions control your life, and some times, you don’t even realize that is what you are doing until you are feeling so low and can’t get back up on your own. Hopefully, if you are in that situation or have been, you have someone in your life, as I do, that loves you enough to help. I’ve also seen what holding onto hurts, anger, and hatreds can do to your life emotionally and physically. It can eat away at your life till there is nothing left. Sadly, we have a family member in this situation. I understand that they may not have any real love for those that hurt them but they are holding on to the anger, hatred and hurt so tightly that they can’t really love back nor let anyone love them. Instead, there actions are pushing away those who do love them and are living a lonely, miserable life.

Do you know what so wonderful about love? It is so big, powerful and amazing that it can be shared with everyone, which is who God wants us to love, everyone! Love was not meant to be shared with one person at a time. Nor switched from this person to that person based on who is your favorite at the moment. I have family notorious for doing that. I have also been at the end where it wasn’t my turn to be loved, more times than I care to remember. Or the love that was given to me was just a plain and simple, hollow love. Maybe that should be enough, but it’s not. I have family that have never truly taken the time to really connect with me, to find out who I really am, to understand me, nor have any real emotional connection to me. That hurts more than you may know. Without these things, you can’t have a compassionate love for anyone. Of course, you don’t have to have a compassionate love for everyone; to me that is usually a love you have for a spouse, your children, family members, and very special friends. And of course God!

Since I mentioned “buying”, love above I thought I would touch on that subject too. You can never truly buy a persons love. Showering someone with gifts or spending tons of money on them when you see them (on very rare occasions) may cause them to shower you with affection but only for that moment. “Buying” someone’s love could actually be hurting them because they may feel as though you don’t really love them. After all, if you really did love them you would be able to show it in other ways besides with gifts you bring and money you spend. It’s like I said above I was not trying to buy my moms love but because she didn’t believe I had any real and sensitive emotions towards anyone, but myself, nor did she have any emotional or compassionate love for me she could only assume I was trying to buy her love. Realizing this put a lot of things into perspective for me and shaped my feelings for my mom. Please don’t let that happen to you!

So I guess this explains why this passage means so much to me. It might also explain why this is my four posting on love.

I pray that you will consider what it keeps no record of wrongs means and do your best to follow this, just as I try to, so that you can live a life full of love.

God bless!