Walking With The Greatest Part 6 Series

I. Love does not take account of a suffered wrong

a. 1 Cor 13:5 NKJV is not provoked, thinks no evil

b. I cor 13:5 (AMP) “Love (God’s love in us) is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].”

c. Now I’m sure everyone here is like…. “WHATEVER..I’m not going to forget it and I will hold it against them.”

d. Your flesh would rather hear something different, wouldn’t it?

i. Sure…if someone hurts you…you better remember how that feels so that you can protect yourself and never let that happen again.

e. Provoked means to be “irritated or incensed to anger…to allow someone else to drive you to anger”

f. Love makes allowances for the falls of others, and is ready to put on them a charitable construction. (To love them out of it) Love, so far from devising evil against another, excuses “the evil” which another inflicts on her; doth not meditate upon evil inflicted by another; and in doubtful cases, takes the more charitable view.

g. In this verse we have a thermometer to our love walk. This is how we can tell if we are walking in Love and how much.

i. Are you touchy? Fretful? Resentful? Are you always noticing what people do wrong to you? Are you keeping tabs on people?

ii. That is the LOVE gauge. If by looking at those gauges you can tell if you’re walking in love or not by looking at THIS verse.

h. As long as WE take account of the evil done to you…we aren’t

i. Take account – to fully realize, be fully aware of

i. Isn’t it funny that we as humans judge ourselves by our intentions but we judge others by our action.

i. We know when we do something, whether we meant to do it that way or not, but we automatically believe that when others rub us the wrong way that “THEY ARE DOING IT ON PURPOSE”

1. They need to get over it….ARE YOU OVER IT?

II. Love rejoices in the truth

a. 1 Cor 13:6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth

b. 1 Cor 13:6 AMP It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.

c. Have you ever been happy when something bad happened to someone who had treated you bad? Almost like…YEAH! You deserved that!

d. There are Christians who are excited about the fact that Hell is a real possibility for arrogant people who believe differently than we do.

i. We should NEVER celebrate or rejoice that anyone is going to hell. We should only be celebrating when people get saved!

e. When people out there have bad things come their way, we should be grieving for them. We should be trying to help them. We should celebrate when good things are happening for people around us, no matter what they have done because blessings come from God who is the author of truth and right…and when Good things happen, that means HE is prevailing.

i. “But they’ve done so much bad….don’t they deserve that?

1. WHO ARE YOU TO DECIDE OR JUDGE THAT?

2. We should be praying for them to turn, to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus, to be changed for HIS GLORY…to be forgiven so that there is more room for good in their lives?

ii. The more good someone’s life is, the more apt they are to do good to others. Instead of hoping for the bad to catch up with them, we need to pray that they encounter the goodness of God so that they can become WHOLE and impact the world positively!