Harvest Daily with Greg Laurie - May 31, 2006

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

 

Good Manners

 

[Love] does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil.

—1 Corinthians 13:5

 

In an old village in England, this inscription was reportedly found on a tombstone: “Here lies a miser who lived for himself and cared for nothing but gathering wealth.  Now where he is or how he fares, nobody knows and nobody cares.”  How would you like to have that written on your tombstone?  How much better it would be for others to say of our lives, “This person was always thinking of and caring for others.”

 

The Bible tells us that “[love] does not behave rudely, does not seek its own” (1 Corinthians 13:5).  In other words, true love has good manners.  This is something that is largely lost in our culture today.  There’s a prevailing attitude that seems to say, “If my behavior offends someone else, that’s their problem.  They have to get over it.”  But as Christians, we need to realize we are part of the body of Christ, and as such, we should consider what other people are experiencing.  We should care about others.  The world does not revolve around you or me.  We should put the needs of others above our own.

 

God’s love is not provoked.  It is not aroused to anger.  It thinks no evil, which means it doesn’t keep a record of wrongs.  When someone has been wronged and says, “I can’t believe you did that!  I keep records.   I don’t get mad; I get even,” that is not God’s love.

 

Has someone taken advantage of you?  Forget about it.  Did they do it again?  Don’t worry about it.  Let it go.  It doesn’t matter.  That’s how God’s love is.

 

Caring about others more than we care about ourselves is more than good manners.  It is godly love.

 

For more relevant and biblical teaching from Pastor Greg Laurie, go to www.harvest.org.

 

Copyright © 2006 by Harvest Ministries.  All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version.  Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.  Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214-1000.