The Trust App Series

But there’s another thing that makes it hard to trust, and that’s who you are, because you grew up in some kind of home. You had a bad experience with an ex-husband or ex-wife; you had a bad experience with a father-in-law or a stepfather or a stepmother; you had a bad experience in your former occupation or the former company that you worked for; you had some bad experiences. And what happens is over time, something happens to you, and something happens in your heart and you learn not to trust.

So this very, very specific life app is more difficult for you, because in general, you have a hard time trusting. But as a Christian, as a Christian, we are instructed, as we’re going to see, to stretch and to bend and to learn to trust. Now, if you have your Bible and want to follow along, we’re in one of the most famous chapters in the entire Bible, I Corinthians 13. I Corinthians 13 is sometimes referred to as the what chapter? The “love chapter,” that’s right. If you had a wedding in a Christian church, it’s very possible that somebody either read part of or all of I Corinthians 13. In fact, you may have asked the pastor, Hey, will you read I Corinthians 13—if you can remember anything that was actually said at your wedding. It’s a little bit of a blur sometimes.

In I Corinthians 13, the apostle Paul discusses love, and he does his best to explain what love is. And you know I want to know what love is. Don’t you? Don’t you want to know what love is? Everybody remember that song? I Want to Know What Love Is. And so he says I’m going to tell you. And instead of just giving us a sentence, he gives us a description, and here’s what’s so cool. At the very end, it’s as if he bumps into this issue of trust, and he thinks to himself, How do I say this? How do I say this, because this isn’t going to go well. People are going to think, huh? This sounds too extreme. How do I say this? So I want to read you the verses leading up to the big huh when it comes to trust. Here we go. Most of this is kind of yeah, yeah, yeah, we know.

I Corinthians 13:4-5 (TNIV)

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, [Well of course, everybody knows that. It goes on.] it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs.

Oh. Because some of you are married to people with a file cabinet, right? It’s like excuse me, oh yeah, May 13, 1992, do you remember? Okay. But real love doesn’t have a file cabinet. It doesn’t even have a 3 x 5 card. Love, real love keeps no record of wrongs. We should apparently come back and talk about that at some point. Love, now listen; now he’s starting to focus in on his big idea.

I Corinthians 13:6 (TNIV)

6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

Now he’s talking about evil in general and truth in general. Again, it’s like it’s hard to put this into words.

I Corinthians 13:6 (TNIV)

6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

Do you know what that means? That means that love isn’t trying to catch somebody doing something wrong. Aha, I knew it! I knew you were going to do that. I knew you were going to be late. I knew you were going to mess up the budget. I knew you weren’t going to give me credit for that; I knew it. Aha, I’m just waiting to catch you doing the wrong thing. He says that’s not how love operates. Love is looking for an opportunity to catch people doing the right thing. And then it’s as if Paul stops and goes, Okay, that says it, but that doesn’t quite say it. Then he gives us four quick phrases that all are pointing to the one idea of trust. Here’s how he writes it. It . . . talking about love.