PowerPoint - Aug. 3, 2007

August 3, 2007

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

--1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NKJV)

I’d like to draw your attention to the phrase thinks no evil in today’s passage. What does it really mean when Paul says that love “thinks no evil”?

In the Greek of the New Testament, the word thinks is actually a bookkeeping term. It’s a word that means “to take into account” or “to write down as a permanent record.” Which is exactly what a good bookkeeper or accountant does. They write things down as a permanent record.

In accounting, keeping permanent records is vital. But in relationships, it’s deadly! If we’re going to know the love of Christ and live in the fullness of that love and grace, we need to delete those negative relational files we’ve collected over the years! Because after all, this is what Christ has done for us (Romans 5:13).

The Scripture says that God has not imputed sin to us. Aren’t you glad? When it came to settling the score, Jesus took the sin that was written down against us upon the cross. He died and rose again on the third day and because of what Christ has done for us, God has forgiven and forgotten our sin. It is deleted…forever gone.

Yet how many of us are unwilling to delete the files? If you want to have strong, vibrant, healthy relationships, you must keep short accounts. Because love doesn’t keep score and love doesn’t settle the score. Love believes all things and hopes all things. Love thinks no evil…but thinks the best.

love doesn’t keep score but instead keeps short accounts.