The Twelve Days of Lovemas| Day 8 Record of Wrongs

The Bokeh of Christmas by Kristina Servant CCed by

As we continue on our trek of love meditation, it occurs to me that a refresher might be in store. The days of Lovemas can run together very easily because of the sheer nature of writing that seeks to study, devour and digest. I hope, rather than to bore you with more tedious dissection of verses, that I can keep the golden thread of hope and love that ties these posts together running strong. It is after all a series that rips it’s name straight from Christmas, so I think there should be a fair amount of cheer and rejoicing envolved!

The verse we have been going through is 1 Corinthans 13:4-8, “4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[a] 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.”

My real and true goal of writing about this lofty subject has been number one, to hopefully act on what I believe to be God’s voice. Any fire or inspired writing that you might come across in my posts is all from him. I know that things will not always run perfectly, but my hope has always been to speak when God wants me to speak, and be silent when he desires my silence.

And secondly, the reason that I have been writing on this subject of love is to be part God’s movement to open our eyes to those around us. I long for a day when we as Christians are known by our love; love for one another, and love for those around us. It pains me to see that often, a combative stance is taken between us as Christians and others who don’t happen to believe as we do. I can’t even begin to describe my sheer disappointment as I hear pastor after pastor draw a cheap laugh from their congregation by making a fun of someone they disagree with. Our battle is not, nor has it ever been against the people around us, but that is another blog post. So rather than emphasize what we should carefully shy away from, I know that God desires to powerfully guide us to greater heights of living completely for him and loving those around us. And what better place to start that adventure than a Biblical depiction of love?

This eighth day of lovemas, on the 22nd of December (or Christmas Eve Eve Eve, as I like to call it), we have reached the tail end of verse five, “love is not resentful”. The Greek reads, “love keeps no record of wrongs”. If you’re anything like me, this verse fills you some very mixed emotions. At first I get goose bumps as I realize that this particular phrase points directly to God. I know that I am getting to know him more when I read the phrase, “love keeps no record of wrongs” because that is God’s very nature. He is generous with his mercy and forgiveness. We never have to worry because of past mistakes, because God first loved us. And he also first counted our sins no more.

But I also try to put on the verse, and apply it to my own life, and it doesn’t seem to fit. With God, all all all things are possible, but to keep no record of wrong seems to be a mountain of a task.

I must point out that it doesn’t say that love forgets everything that has ever happened. It says that love keeps no record of what has been done to them. Paul is not trying to imply that when we come to Christ, we get some sort of case of amnesia. He is saying that love does not take the things people have done and let a seed of bitterness be planted. Rather than imagining a life where Christians are all incredibly forgetful, I picture a bitter old woman hunched in her rocking chair with a notebook full of entries. This blue, ragged spiral has been with her for some time, now. She angrily reads through the book cover to cover as she has since she was a young woman. Her teeth grind, and her fingers grasp at the tattered pages. She quietly thumbs through the handwritten tale of woes. Her life is full of turmoil, and her love is squelched. The neighborhood children avoid her yard at all costs.

While I hope that this story is not real, I do know that those are the sad and eventual consequences of keeping a record of wrongs. Bitterly holding onto things that have been done to us closes off the heart, and eventually a sort of leprosy sets in. We are no longer able to feel compassion for those around us. Our heart becomes hard, cold, and dead.

This resentful feeling is what Paul was talking about in 1 Corinthians 13:5. His warning against offense is simple, but the harm it causes is massive and should be avoided at all costs. Not only does bitterness hurt our testimony because it drains us of our love, but it is incredibly damaging to our own souls. The carnage that comes from habitual resentment is most strongly felt by the person holding onto their forgiveness. While this action of holding onto what others have done to us is bad because it keeps us from loving them, it is decidedly worse for the one who is denying the forgiveness. The storm that is weathered is of their own choice. It hurts, it is isolated, and it can rob you of years you might never get back.

God never intended for us to lose ourselves in a battle to hold onto the past. He sent his son, and with that tiny baby came hope and joy that surpasses all understanding. When we say yes to Christ and his way of living and forgiving, we shine like the star that shone the first Christmas in Bethlehem. Cheesy as it might sound, we are the modern day stars leading others to Christ. They are looking and searching for something different, something brighter than what the world offers them. When God softens our hard hearts and we stop keeping a record of wrongs, the lost notice and flock to see the manger king.