Psalms 137—139, 1 Corinthians 13 • Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 13:6
Try this with a group. Ask everyone to finish this sentence: “Love is.” Some of the phrases from 1 Corinthians 13 will he suggested, but one undoubtedly will not. It is this: “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth” (v. 6). Why is that a characteristic of love?
What we delight in we will share with those we love. A person who enjoys fine dining will want to take others to his favorite restaurants. The sports fan will tell others about his love of the game. A collector may try to get her friends- involved in her hobby. We want our interests to be their interests.
If we delight in evil, the same will be true. We will want those around us to be involved in the same things, in the same way. This is a sad but unmentioned truth.
Our desire should be to help others become more like Christ. Paul even said that a husband should love his wife as Christ loved the Church, giving Himself for her “to make her holy” (Eph. 5:25-26).
Do you see how delighting in evil works against that? If we delight in evil, then we are bringing into others’ lives that which pulls them away from Christ. Love does not do that. It desires that others “rejoice with the truth.”
_Are there things in your life that are wrong? Don’t think about only yourself, but also about how you influence others with what you delight in. Determine to get the wrong out and the right in._
Woodrow Kroll & Tony Beckett
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