Love Believes All Things

Alba 1-11-2026

LOVE BELIEVES ALL THINGS

I Corinthians 13:7

Pew Researchers keep track of the trust Americans have in their government. Would it surprise you to hear that on average 73% of people trust the government just about always or most of the time. If that sounds confusing to you, that was back in 1958. From the year 2007 to the present those saying they can trust the government always or most of the time has never been higher than 30%. This past year the average trust level was only 22%.

Trust is a tricky business. Trust isn’t easy to come by; once it is lost it isn’t easy to regain. On the one hand, it’s a prerequisite for many worthwhile things. Trust is necessary for a successful marriage, for friendships to do well, the choice of someone to care for a child, and even just eating at a restaurant. On the other hand, putting your trust in the wrong place often carries a high price.

There are areas where believing and trusting are difficult. But of one thing we can be certain: “Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus!” I Corinthians 13:7 states that love believes all things. Other translations say: love always trusts. The theme is trust, and how love acts toward others in the arena of trust. It teaches us another aspect of love.

I. Love that believes all things, that always trusts, gives the benefit of the doubt.

This verse of scripture is saying that love, as a general rule, is not suspicious or cynical. This is especially important as it relates to evaluating people. Love considers a person innocent until proven otherwise. But hatred leaps to the conclusion that the worst possible explanation is the correct one. It finds reason to mistrust, to see everything in the worst possible light. In our current political climate we see this approach all the time.

On the other hand, love leaps to the conclusion that the person loved is in the right; love chooses the most favorable explanation. Love holds out hope that the person loved will be vindicated—while allowing for the truth at the same time.

Love welcomes the idea that a person is better than we thought, or more blameless than expected. Love roots for it all to be a big misunderstanding instead of for there to be sin. Love errs on the side of trust. A spirit of mutual trust is what ought to be found in a Biblical community, like church. This is an indispensable ingredient for unity.

And when trust is broken, love’s instinct is to heal and restore. It is quick to give the benefit of the doubt to the person who shows signs of repentance and a true desire to change. Contrast this with Job’s “friends”, who were ready to turn on him at a moment’s notice. When they saw the fix that Job was in, their first instinct was to assume the worst about him. They thought, like some seem to think today, that God was some kind of celestial vending machine God, where if you put the right thing in, you get blessings from God, but if you don’t, you get trouble. People thought that in Jesus’ day; remember the blind man whom Jesus healed, and they asked, "who sinned? This man, or his parents, that he was born blind?” It doesn’t work that way, but Job’s so called friends thought so. And since bad things were happening to Job, they jumped to the conclusion that Job was doing something sinful. And so they condescendingly lectured him; that’s not love.

Love doesn’t act that way, but rather, in a spirit of trust, love always seeks to see the good in others. Love prevents us from writing off anyone. Love believes all. Yet there is a distinction.

II. Love that believes all things, that always trusts, does not require us to be gullible.

This is not a call to suspend our common sense, or sound judgment. It is not a call to knowingly walk into an ambush. In all of life we have to be prudent and discerning. Love doesn’t give the benefit of the doubt when there is reason to doubt, of course. It doesn’t demand an unreasonable trust when trust has been destroyed. Gullibility is not a virtue! Too many people are gullible. Let me illustrate. With the rise of the Internet, and now AI, has come the proliferation of stories which are purported to be true but are in reality elaborate hoaxes.

They range from sensational stories, to conspiracy theories, to something-for-nothing offers, to tear-jerking stories of someone in terrible physical straits who needs prayer and cards and letters and money, or what have you. When it says that love believes all things, that love trusts, it doesn’t mean that it is loving to be gullible, to naively accept everything that comes down the block.