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"Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]."
1 Corinthians 13:7-8
When I was younger I did not understand what these verses meant. Until I got older and I came accross different circumstances in my life that appeared to be a testing of that verse. I was faced with a situation where I could either choose from two of these things: believing the best or assuming the worst. I guess I found this verse significant in my life and to the people I love because I have subconsciously thought that people do some things because they do it on purpose to hurt or harm me.
But you know what I realized? I realized that most of the things we are hurting from, especially those which are done by the people we love are not done on purpose. It's not what they did that matters, it's how we respond to what they did. That is why the Bible keeps telling us that love believes the best. If you love someone you will always persevere to believe the best of what he or she did. You will always think that this person did not do such things to purposefully hurt you, and that's where the other aspects of love go in, such as patience, kindness, and avoiding to keep a record of wrongs.
I realized that this way of thinking and this attitude towards others is so vital. It is so vital that it can change many relationships in an instant. We humans are afraid to be vulnerable and we go out of the world in a defensive mode. We always hurt, get angry, resent, show bitterness towards other people because deep in our minds and hearts we always assume that they do such things for the sake of making us feel that way.
But if you go out of your way, avoiding to succumb in your tendencies and try to see people the way God sees them, you will see the people around you in a different light. You will see the good heart in every person, and you will see that maybe, just maybe, you could have saved a lot of time avoiding unneccesary bitterness, heartache and resentment. Maybe you could have chosen to love instead.
This is a constant realization that I always try to preach myself everyday, but God has been patient in reminding me. If this article helped you, don't hesitate to share it to someone you love.
For further reading about 1 Corinthians 13 and what the Bible says about love, I recommend reading these two books:
With roughly a third of all marriages ending in divorce, there's never been a better time for this refresher course in the true meaning of a successful union. As New York Times bestselling author Dr. David Jeremiah reminds us, it's a biblical truth: Sex and passionate, romantic love are God's ideas!
One of the most important passages in the Scriptures, First Corinthians 13 is often read and rarely followed. Medieval theologian, John Chrysostom, was called the “golden-mouthed” one, for the eloquence of his preaching. His reputation extended from his native East to the Christian West, and he is remembered today as a Church Father for the entire Church.
Now available in a popular contemporary English translation for the first time, The Love Chapter makes available these most important reflections of St. John, on a most important portion of the New Testament.
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