Bearing and Believing, Hoping and Enduring

Today's passage:  I Corinthians 13:7
     Charity..."Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."
I remember a preacher in my Bible college chapel preaching on this passage and saying that this verse was a progression.  In us, it probably is.  It would be hard to endure if I didn't hope, believe, or bear first.  But with God, who has perfect charity, it can not be.  He doesn't ever need improvement, His love doesn't have to build.  Here is what I have learned from these four characteristics about the Trinity.
     Beareth all things...God is strong enough to bear all of our problems.  He doesn't whine or complain about the weight. For Him, the lifting is easy.  Jesus bore the weight of the cross, the weight of rejection, the weight of our sin.  Bearing these things not because He was forced, but because of His love for us.  The Holy Spirit bears with being pushed away, with being grieved, with being ignored.  He puts up with a lot.
     Believeth all things...God believes me to be righteous and holy when I am not.  He believes it because of the debt His Son paid to make me righteous and holy.  Jesus believed in my worth and value by dying for me.  The Holy Spirit believes in His ability to transform me.  He believes in the power God has given Him to make me a different person from what I am naturally.
   Hopeth all things...God hopes every sinner will come to repentance.  He hopes all of His Creation will realize He is the Creator and He deserves our worship.  He hopes that if He allows this earth to remain one more day, then one more soul will be saved.  The Lord Jesus hopes people will recognize that His sacrifice is enough.  Nothing more needs to be done, nothing added.  His substitutionary death on the Cross of Calvary paid it all, and He hopes that every person trying to work their way to Heaven will someday realize that.  The Holy Spirit hopes that the tapping on the heart will open wide to Him.  He hopes the call to the mission field will be answered.  He hopes the nudge to talk to the person in the grocery store about Christ will prompt action.

Jesus stands at the door knocking
Taken from Standard Bible Story Readers, Book Six
By Lillie A. Faris
Illustrated by O.A. Stemler and Bess Bruce Cleaveland
The Standard Publishing Company, 1929

     Endureth all things...God endures His name being used in vain.  He endures people who claim He doesn't exist.  He endures us transgressing His laws and explaining why they shouldn't be there.  He endures people tossing His Words in the trash or burning them. He endures His Words being twisted, simplified, changed.  Jesus endured over thirty years in a human body.  He endured limiting His power.  He endured questioning, ridicule, unbelief, semi-belief in the form of being made a mere historical figure and not the Son of God.  He endured betrayal, beatings, crucifixion, burial.  He endured separation from His Father.  The Holy Spirit endures living in a Christian heart that is cold, indifferent, unresponsive.  He endures getting too much glory for the work in our lives, and sometimes, not enough glory for the work in our lives.  He endures having His gifts squandered or exaggerated. 
     When I see these traits of love, and I think of how marriages are entered into so quickly, thrown away so lightly, exited so frequently, it is clear that we don't understand God's love.  If we did, we would put up with a lot more to make marriage work.  If we understood God's love better, we would never walk past a person without asking about their eternal destination.  We would sacrifice and tolerate more if it would make a difference in a person's eternal soul.  If I loved God like He loves me, I would spend more time with Him, listen to Him better, do more for Him.  He has given so much for me.  He has given so much to me. I am amazed that anyone's love for me could be so perfect.  I can never get into an argument with Him about not loving me enough, about not understanding me, about not doing enough for me.  I might think those things about my family and friends at times, but God can never be accused of it.  Can I ever love like He loves?  I can only attempt.  And even though my attempts will fall short, it is better than not trying at all.

The Power of Love

Today's passage:  I Corinthians 13:5
     I have always approached these verses, wondering how I can improve in my love for others.  I have always looked at them as a checklist to check my charity meter.  This week, I have been meditating on how God is all of these verses.  In my prayer time, I thank God for being each characteristic of charity, and why I know He is.  Then I thank Jesus for being each of these characteristics and then the Holy Spirit.  Praising God is easy when you just pray the Scripture and really think about how God embodies it.
     "Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;"
    Doth not behave itself unseemly... God never behaves inappropriately.  He never says a word too many and He never listens to or tells a raunchy joke.  We probably apply this sense of decorum to heads of state or monarchs.  There is a sense of how to behave, what to wear, how to carry yourself.  We think of the majesty of a royal position.  God is all those and never pushes the bounds of indecency. 
     Seeketh not her own...God created us to worship Him.  He created us to fellowship with Him.  He made us in His image.  Yet, most of His Creation refuses to even give Him a thought.  If He were to put us under His thumb, He could require us to worship Him as we should.  But He gives us free will.  And because of that, He allows us to go our own way, separate from Him.  He is not going to put us in a headlock until we cry out "Uncle" so that He can acquire our devotion.  If He wanted to, He could.  If Christ had been selfish, He would never have left Heaven.  If He wanted to do only what He wanted to do, He would have told the Father to have somebody else do the job.   The Holy Spirit allows God the Father and God the Son to receive all the glory, even though He does an equally important work in our lives.  His love for us prevents Him from shining a neon arrow upon Himself to remind us that He is at work as well.  I also find it interesting that the pronoun used for charity in this trait is her.  In other places in the passage, charity is referred to as it.  I am not implying that women have more love than men, but if you think about it, a mother almost always has this quality when it comes to her children, and men are told to love their wives as Christ loved the church.  I just think that maybe this quality in charity comes a little more naturally for women and therefore, God chose to use a feminine pronoun.  Just an observation.
     Is not easily provoked...This is so true of our God.  When I think about the times in the Bible that God exercised judgement upon the earth, He always gave fair warning.  He did not just react to what was taking place.  When He decided to destroy the earth by flood, He had been patient with the wickedness for hundreds of years.  Even after he instructs Noah to build the ark, He gives ample time for people to repent, to choose Him.  He didn't tell Noah and the next day send rain.  When He exiled Israel into captivity, first to the Assyrians, then to the Babylonians, He charged prophet after prophet to warn of what would be coming.  He could have destroyed them instantly, but because His righteous anger is a slow burn, He doesn't punish immediately.  That idea of lightning striking someone when they have done wrong just does not fit in with this characteristic of God.  Jesus was not easily provoked when the Pharisees questioned Him unfairly.  He could have zapped them.  He could have stricken them with leprosy.  If he was a vengeful God, He would have.  How many times have I provoked the Holy Spirit?  How many times have I told Him no, have I waved Him away, have I hardened my heart against Him?  If He was easily provoked, He would just take His presence and leave.
     Thinketh no evil...Some people believe that God is sitting up in Heaven hatching up plans for us.  Some think that He is sketching out every detail on how to make us more miserable.  If God is a God of love, which He is, and these are the characteristics of love, then we know this cannot be true.  First of all, God is not capable of evil, but to even think of Him scheming and plotting gives an evil slant to His plans.  Christ could have pocketed a ledger with names of those who spit on Him, who challenged His deity, who withheld food or shelter from Him.  He could have studied that list and prayed to His Father to allow some unforeseen danger to happen in that person's path.  Instead, when we read the Gospels, Jesus is never praying evil on us, only good.  He intercedes for us, and an intercessor wants our best, not our worst.
     When I think about how God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit embody these qualities of charity, it doesn't make me feel defeated.  It might seem that it would, because He is perfect and I am imperfect.  He is holy and I am unholy.  But because He is living in me, His power becomes my power, His holiness becomes my holiness, His love becomes my love.  I have access to this kind of love because He resides in me and so as a by-product, I have His love in me.  I can choose to not use it, but I always have access to it, and that is a thought that fills me with hope.

Starring Role

Today's passage:  John 14:16-31
     When I was in high school, I enjoyed being involved in theater.  My junior year, we performed "Our Town".  I had a bit part as a girl who questions someone in the cemetery.  By default, I ended up playing one of the principal characters, Mrs. Webb (the mother of George, one of the two main characters.)  It is a long story how I ended up with the role and cost me a friendship through no fault of my own.  My senior year, we performed "Grease" with major editing, and I was really hoping to be a pink lady but instead ended up playing the school principal rather than a principal role.  I was really disappointed.  I whined and complained about it.  I grumbled that even people in the chorus were in more scenes than I was.  I look back now at how I reacted, and wish I could take that girl by the shoulders and give her a good shaking.
     "Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him:  but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."  I have something that not everyone has.  As a believer in Christ, I have the Holy Spirit dwelling in me.  He wants to be a major player in my life.  He can be if I allow Him.  I wonder if there are times when the Holy Spirit is disappointed that He doesn't have more of a starring role.  Maybe there are times He has had a principal part, and other times when I have designated Him as the supporting cast.  I thank God for being my Father, I thank Jesus for dying for me.  I thank God for the Holy Spirit, but do I ever acknowledge the Spirit Himself.  He is the third person of the trinity after all.  Doesn't He want to be recognized?  Do I ever pray, "Holy Spirit, thank You for Your work in my life."  Some denominations overexaggerate His work in our lives, but I think some denominations maybe deemphasize what He does for us.  Without the Holy Spirit, I wouldn't understand a single word in my Bible.  Without the Holy Spirit, I could not be convicted of my sin.  Without the Holy Spirit, I would not have the comfort and peace that God shows me.  It is through Him (the Holy Spirit) that I am able experience any of these things.  He is God, He should get more credit. 
     If you have ever been to live theater, you may notice that when the play is over, the actors come out on stage to take their bows.  The smaller roles come out first, with people applauding of course.  The major roles are saved for last, as the applause builds and sometimes culminates in a standing ovation.  The Trinity all have major roles.  God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit all deserve the credit in my life.  They have been equally involved in how He has worked in my life.  The Holy Spirit would never demand my attention, but I ought to give Him more credit than I do.