First of all, I have to get my honest apologies for the
lengthy time between blogs this time. There are a number of you who have been
such faithful readers and I have let you down, so I offer a sincere apology.
There is no excuse, but to give an idea of why I fell off the blogging grid, I
feel I should give a quick update. In the past four months since I last wrote a
lot has happened. My job with the City of Portland that was a six month
contract ended December 30th, and since then have been interning with Salvation
Army in their human trafficking department. The internship has been so
rewarding and I am looking forward to seeing the fruit of the work that we are
doing. Also, I wrote this blog over a month ago but my computer crashed and so
I lost it, which caused the delay again. The beautiful thing though, is that
God totally spoke something different and I think better this time around while
writing this blog, so praise God for the delay! 🙂 But here it is, I hope you
enjoy this journey with me as we pick up where we left off and struggle through
1 Corinthians 13 together.
Last blog was about keeping no record of being wronged. I
REALLY suggest listening to the podcast of the sermon pastor John Mark from
Solid Rock did on this very subject.
http://www.ajesuschurch.org/topic?id=858&c=1190#865
or
www.ajesuschurch.org (go to Teachings > Weekend > Part 8 /
“Do not murder” – check)
This week:
1
Corinthians 13:6a love does not rejoice at wrongdoing
Does not rejoice in unrighteousness – NASB
Does not delight in evil – NIV
Does not rejoice in iniquity – NKJV
Does not rejoice about injustice – NLT
Does not rejoice at wrongdoing – ESV
Most people,
one would hope, do not say “HOORAY!! Look at that evil happening, let’s
rejoice and be glad!” yeah, not happening. There is, unfortunately, a lot
of cruelty because we live in a broken world. While we do not necessary celebrate
the harsh injustices around the world, such as world hunger, human trafficking,
child pornography, murder, rape, genocide, war; what have you, I would say that
a lot of us are not passionately opposed…but that’s for another blog.
This blog is
about how love DOES NOT rejoice over wrongdoing, iniquity…bad stuff
happening. I am not sure what comes to mind for you, but the first thing I
think of is media. Why is it that the traumatic story is what is being shown?
Why is it that we see scandal’s of affairs, murder, drunken nights out,
divorce’s, and tragedies splashed across the television screen and tabloids?
Why are we not seeing headlines of how 40,000 students raised 3 million dollars
to fight the sex trade? Why are we not seeing the success stories blasted across
the screen of people dedicating their lives to helping others? Yes, we see
those every once in a while, but you can bet for every positive article, there
are ten-20 more that are negative. Why? It is because tragedies are what sells.
What’s the saying? “Everyone loves a good scandal” The magazine’s
showing the celebrities bad outfit choice, or their divorce, their
adultery…that’s what is being read and what is being talked about.
Most
therapists would tell you it is a self esteem thing. When we hear about someone
else’s failures or tragedies it makes us feel better about ourselves and our
troubles not seem so awful. Granted, I think it is important to get some
perspective and see that there is tragedy all over the world and so stressing
about if I am going to take ‘this job or that job’ would seem silly.
A friend of
mine loves to have people over and watch the show the Bachelor…any of you
watch it? Well, a few weeks back I went and if any of you watch it, you know
Courtney is all the talk. The stuff she says to the camera in her one on one
time and also to the other girls does not paint her in the best light. We all
groaned as we watched her manipulate her way into getting a rose. I found
myself so frustrated with her, frustrated with the bachelor Ben for not seeing
through it all, and just wanting her to be found out. I called her awful and
started to think Ben as terrible and that they ‘deserve’ each other. I may have just lost a bunch of you as
readers because of my admission to watching this, but bare with me. The
parallel I am drawing here is that I was not loving her (even though I will
likely never meet her) by talking bad about her. I wanted her to do something
terrible in front of Ben so that he would see ‘her real colors’.
Now this
isn’t me rejoicing about a awful injustice, but at one point I felt a huge holy
spirit check. Courtney is a daughter of God’s, He made her, He loves her, and
He wants her as His daughter. Me wanting
something bad to happen to her, and me thinking or saying anything bad about
her is not what God wants; that is not love. She does not have God’s standards
because she does not follow Jesus, so who am I to hold that standard over her?
With the love of Jesus I am called to love her, want the best for her, and more
than anything pray that she turns and follows Jesus…not that she would be
labeled ‘the most hated bachelorette’ or hope that her modeling career tanks. God I do pray that Courtney would know, fear
and love you.
Maybe the
Bachelor is not your parallel, maybe it is wishing your rude co-worker would
get fired, your rude neighbor would finally ‘get what was coming to them’. I am
definitely not saying we are supposed to condone the actions of rude neighbors
or manipulating the bachelor, but when I think bad thoughts or say negative
things about those people, I think God thinks I am in just as much sin as the
person I am judging/criticizing/wishing ill upon. Instead, we are to see other’s through God’s
eyes, as loved. God’s heart is broken for those who are broken and not
following Him, but us condemning them is not the answer.
Challenge of
the week:
Who in your
life/media/surrounding area bothers you/has done something not so
flattering/messed up that you are rejoicing/happy about their failures? The challenge, figure out some way to love
them. Whether that is bringing that co-worker or neighbor cookies, apologize
for what was said behind someone’s back, ask forgiveness from God, declare the
bachelorette a child of God and stick up for her when you hear others, abstain
from reading any tabloids, gossip about celebrities…what have you. We all can
identify where we fall short in this.
