Love and Forgiveness.

After I wrote yesterday's post, a verse in 1 Corinthians 13 kept swirling through my mind. This morning and afternoon it is still swirling around in there, so I thought I'd share and reflect on it.

Verses 4 and 5 say: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

The part about love not keeping record of wrongs really jumped out to me while I was writing yesterday's post. How often do we harbor wrongs done to us to use as ammunition to shoot that person down at a later date? Even after the person made the offense had asked for forgiveness? If we were being loving and were treating others in the way God treats us, wouldn't we "forget" about the offense to bring it up or hold it against that person no more? This made me take a look inside myself. I've brought up things with my husband that had hurt me in the past and that he had apologized for--why? Because I wanted to hurt him. That's not being loving. Not only was I keeping record of his wrongdoings against me, but I was also being unkind to him in the process. I know of other times when I have kept a mental tally of when someone has wronged me. That's not love. God then works through his Holy Spirit (sometimes using other people, a song and also scripture) to convict my heart to bring me back into obedience and oneness with himself and then I ask for His forgivenes and lay my burden down at his feet. However, I have to admit that often something will happen that will make me want to try to pick up that burden again to carry it on my own...

Verse 6 says that [Love] always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Bringing up acts of the past that have already been forgiven is not showing love. If I had been showing love to my husband (or to anyone for that matter), I would want to protect the relationship and not want to hurt him.

I know that I have a lot to learn from my heavenly Father in this area and will always have to work at this. Thankfully Father is there to help me and that he won't be keeping record of the many wrongs that I am certain to make along the way to ask forgiveness for. :)