Christ in me will be…believing all things
As His grace enables me to not be suspicious, but to trust God’s plan. This action of love makes me completely trust God and believe the best about others. Love sees the weakness, throws a mantle of silence over it, and then believes the best. If you are going to make a mistake about someone’s character, err on the side of love. Make a mistake in trusting or believing them too much. The Corinthians evidently believed the worst, and they suspected and assumed that nobody ever told the truth. In Matthew 9 (verse 2b, 7, 3), we see the Pharisees felt this way about Jesus. They had a predisposition that Christ was evil, so whatever Jesus did had to be evil. They were cynical and suspicious. Once you start hating someone, you will try to find faults. On the contrary, once you start loving somebody, you will start covering their faults.
Christ in me will be…hoping all things
Even amid repeated disappointments, there is a constant assurance that God has a future and is working all things for His own glory. Love refuses to take failure as final. Jesus wouldn’t accept failure from Peter, and Paul wouldn’t accept failure from the Corinthians. Many a grace-energized, loving wife has held on to a struggling and failing husband; and many a grace-energized, loving parent has held on to a wayward child; and many a loving friend has held on to a fallen brother—by just holding on to this Spirit—prompted hope. Hope does not try to persuade itself that the thief is honest; but it holds tight knowing that man was MADE for honesty, for purity and the heavenly vision.
Christ in me will be…enduring all things
The Greek term translated as “endureth” is a military term that has to do with being positioned in the middle of a violent battle. The emphasis is not on handling little, minor annoyances. It refers to love that stands wounded and bleeding against incredible opposition and still loves. So we are called to actively choose to bear everything with triumphant endurance. Love never fails. Love never dies; it doesn’t end. Love cannot be conquered. This is the kind of love that took Jesus to Calvary, as it says in 1 John 3:16 By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down [our] lives for the brethren. (NKJV)
From GEM-23g – Grace Energized Men are Sound in Love (080504AM)
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