LOVE? Does NOT Keep a Record of Wrongs

Well, here I am again, dick-foath on the road, literally on the road, with stories from the road. And I'm in that hotel that I was speaking from last time. All here, you can hear the hum of the freeway in the background. You may hear slammed doors and some chatter in the hallway as housekeeping is taking care of rooms and folks are going in and out. But that just contributes to the wonderful ambiance, doesn't it? Today, it's a Saturday, is a big day here in Southern California. I'm sure it is for thousands of people. But today, at a zoo-specific university, a town snuggled up against the San Gabriel mountains that circle part of the LA Basin. Our grandson, Jack, brought up in the Bay Area of Northern California, now his family resides near Boise, Idaho. Grandson Jack graduates. He will get a diploma that will indicate that he's a double major and a double minor and he was in the honors pro, you know, how we are with grandkids, goes on and on. We don't have time. But when he gets that, there's one place that he will always be able to find that, and I don't mean the actual document. I mean, the recording of that, it will be in the university records because things of consequence are recorded and graduation is a good thing to record. Now, if perchance down the road, he gets a speeding violation, a ticket, or if he fails to pay taxes or appropriate taxes, which I'm sure he won't, or if he is a little late on a credit card payment, that's recorded too. You see, the diploma might encourage you because that's an achievement. But a record of wrongs, places where we've stumbled or perhaps is seen as failure, that one encourage you. That haunts us, doesn't it? We're in that love song, in first, for instance, 13, that the Apostle Paul sends to this party town in Greece 2,000 years ago. He speaks to this, we've been in this, we'll be in it for a few weeks more, where he starts out by saying, love is patient, love is kind, love is not rude, it is not self-seeking, all those things we've spoken about in earlier podcasts, and love is not easily angered. That's what we chatted about a few days ago. But then comes this line, 1 Corinthians 13.5, love keeps no record of wrongs. And I'm saying, well, that's not how life works. Life doesn't work like that. Of course they keep a record of wrongs, how well can we evaluate, how well or easily can we put your credit scores in a range that's appropriate to your performance, all that. Here's the thought, it's impossible to love somebody and think well of them, and at the same time hold the bad things they may have done in the past against them like a register of unpaid debts. You know, some of you folks are journalists. That's different than being a journalist, but journalists are people who write down what happens during a day or a week, and I'm a wannabe journalist. I've got numbers of journals that have 15 pages in them, but it's kind of a record of life in the moment. And but it isn't this, it isn't an unpaid debt, like a register of unpaid debts. Now I know that God wants to forgive me as a debtor, if you will, my transgressions, my violations, my missing the mark. But Scripture would suggest that I can't really get forgiven if I want to hold on to unforgiveness in my own life, keep a record of wrongs about other people. Now, just to be clear, there's a distinction between remembering events from the past and holding things against people, both are wrongs, but when someone has been traumatized or has abused their violence or painful memories as someone has well written, it can last for years, but to be able to forgive is part of the healing process, doesn't contradict the need for others to accept responsibility or face consequences. But more commonly, I keep a record of somebody else's wrongs because I've been offended. My pride's been hurt or somebody took something of mine and I want to see the other people hammered back. I want to see them humiliated, even if it wasn't intentional on their part. Even as well written, this is as far away from God's love and the excitement and joy there is in heaven when a sinner repents and never wants to sin again. Jesus could say on the cross, Father, forgive them for they don't know what they do. Both paraphrases, Father, forgive them because they just don't get it. I just want to say this and we'll come back to this in our next podcast. That line that love does not keep a record of wrongs might be my favorite line in the whole passage. Love does not keep a record of wrongs. That's almost worthy of a country song title there, but we'll come back in a few days and pick that up. I want to talk about what kinds of love there are and how that relates to forgiveness, how forgiveness works to make sure that we don't keep a record of wrongs. But between now and then, Ruth and I are going to go see our grandson, Jack, graduate and we're going to cheer and then we're going to go have barbecue. I just think that's something that's really in play and worthwhile. God bless, catch you next time. Tick foes. I'm out. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy. 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