Rejoicing in Truth

Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. (1 Corinthians 13:6)

Love does not rejoice when people are hurt. Love does not celebrate when people are destroyed. I don’t care who they are or what they did. If the love of God is working within you, you hope to see mercy and love win over judgment and pain.

Love doesn’t want people to go through pain. Love rejoices when those who have done wrong and have come to the knowledge of the truth.

Years ago, the concept of truth wasn’t seen as so objectively as it is in our society today. Many post-modern people will read 1 Corinthians 13:6 with the mindset that rejoicing in truth is simply celebrating those who have “discovered their truth.” This is not the case. In fact, most people who say they are living “their truth” are bound in deception by the enemy. The people around them don’t really love them, because if they did, they would help open their eyes to the danger and iniquity they are tying themselves to.

What is truth? Truth is the Word of God.

Love speaks the Word of God with authenticity and transparency. Love declares what God’s Word says with a heart of joy and faith. Love celebrates when the Word wins. Love rejoices when people give their lives to Jesus. Love celebrates when someone who had done wrong opens their eyes, repents, and turns back to God.

When we act with a heart of love, we seek the redemption of others, regardless of what our emotions or flesh feel like in the moment.

Practical Application

When you pray for those who have done wrong, what does your prayer sound like? Are you praying for their eyes to be open and to see the error of their ways? Are you praying for God’s mercy and grace to find them amid their wrong and save them? Or are you using your prayers asking God to attack them? Love doesn’t rejoice in others’ destruction. It rejoices in God’s Word being fulfilled.

2 John 1:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:12

Patience and Goodness

[Charity] is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil. (1 Corinthians 13:5b)

Paul gave two simple definitions of love in these few words. One who is not easily provoked is a patient person. An individual who thinks no evil is a good person. Love will not be provoked into sinning and refuses to think what evil wants it to think.

Love's patience is shown in the believer’s ability to remain calm and composed even in the face of frustration, agitation, or attack. Instead of immediately reacting in the flesh and retaliating in anger, a patient person pauses, allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to their heart about how to respond. We should develop and cultivate patience in our relationships. Ask the Holy Spirit to remind you of His fruit of patience and focus on how you can change the surrounding atmosphere by faith instead of being pulled down to the level of those who are stirring things up.

Paul also said that love thinks no evil. That means we choose to think the best of someone first, giving them the benefit of the doubt. We choose not to think the worst of people immediately. Love chooses to give mercy, and views others the way Christ views them. Love deliberately shuts out evil thoughts toward others.

Both factors, patience and goodness, mean that love must be quick to forgive. Provocation and evil thoughts come from a heart that harbors bitterness and hatred. If we want to see our faith work (as faith works by love), we must make a concentrated effort to let go of bitterness and resentment.

Practical Application

One way to tell how you’re developing in God’s love is to see how quick you are to react negatively to difficult and tense moments. Our job is not to react in the flesh but to respond with the Word of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to help you respond with faith, not react in the flesh.

Proverbs 14:17; Isaiah 3:5

Selflessness and Humility

[Charity] Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own. (1 Corinthians 13:5a)

Love never says, “It’s my way or the highway.”

Love purposes not to seek their own way.

Children are naturally selfish. Tell a three-year-old that they will not get what they want and they pout, they fuss, they may even throw a tantrum. Unfortunately, there are a lot of full-grown adults who have never matured past that three-year-old stage. When something doesn’t happen the way they wanted it to, they fuss and cry and whine and tell everyone they can about their tantrum and how they weren’t heard or that “nobody cares.” We need more “grown up” Christians who don’t seek their own but seek God’s purposes and plan for their life.

Mature people know no one gets their own way all the time. Period.

Genuine love understands this and reacts selflessly with humility. Christians should constantly seek what benefits their family, church, or their nation rather than what benefits the unholy trinity of me, myself, and I. Instead of acting in a self-centered and self-focused way, love demonstrates respect toward those around them. Love considers others’ thoughts and feelings before their own. This is displayed in the words we choose, the actions we take, and the attitudes we have with those around us.

Love is always seeking to develop a culture of honor by sacrificially serving the people God has placed in our lives. This happens with a mindset of humility, deciding to see others as more important and more honored than ourselves. Prioritize benefiting the whole, instead of just how you yourself can profit.

Practical Application

When you face difficulty, challenges, or even tasks to undertake, consider what should be your priority. Is it to make yourself look good? To promote your own pride? Or can you prioritize how to uplift and encourage and listen to those around you, seeking to show the love of God through this moment?

1 Corinthians 10:24; Philippians 2:21