Today's Devotional

April 13, 2005

Subject:  What Love Isn't

1Corinthians 13:5 - "It isn't rude.  It doesn't think about itself.  It isn't irritable.  It doesn't keep track of wrongs."

1Corinthians 13:5 - "Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;"

Oftentimes we can receive a clearer understanding of what something "is" by looking at what it "isn't."  Today we look at four things that love isn't and summarize them.  

Love is not:

Rude - I'm probably guilty of this one at times because I use the excuse of "hey, I'm just speaking the truth."  We sometimes think that truth trumps everything else and the way we say it doesn't matter, but being obnoxious or indifferent to a person's feelings is simply rude and shows little concern for them.  That can't be love.

Selfish - Few people would say that they are selfish.  However, I think of the story of The Good Samaritan and wonder how many people would have stopped to help the person in need.  I think we pass that man on the side of the road, figuratively speaking, most every day and we use excuses like, "it could be dangerous," or "he's just out to make money."  What we're really doing is considering what the impact of helping will have on us.  That's not love because it thinks of self first.

Irritable - This is the coworker who constantly complains.  This is the clerk at the store who seems as though he/she is doing you a favor by waiting on you.  This is you and me when we decide that we're going to nag a person to death about what they're wearing, what they said, and the way they comb their hair.  Some people are just downright irritable and whatever people around them do irritates them.  This is why they are easily provoked.  It's difficult to show love when all that is inside you is irritated. 

Keeping score - It's like collecting hammers.  Some people keep a count of every offense done by others against them.  They store this information away for future use and when necessary, WHAM!!!, they hit them over the head with it.  This is evil thinking because it keeps that person focusing on the wrong and storing that wrong away in their minds.  Do we think that this type of person is forgiving?  No, because while forgiveness should be accomplished in our hearts, as soon as we are wronged, this person stores the act away to use it against them later.  This is definitely not love.

In every instance, you can see that the acts above are in complete contradiction to the way that Christ responded to you and me.  We may have a hard time determining what love is, but looking at those things defined above, we can definitely see what love is not.    

Carlen