DEVOTION
THE 1ST
LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS
DECEPTION OR TRUTH
1 Cor 13:4-7
4 Love is patient, love is
kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude,
it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always
protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
NIV
It would make perfect sense if we love someone, but then of course, we are supposed to love everyone, nevertheless, we would not be glad that they sinned. Yes, we all sin, but this Greek word translated
as evil is not the word used for sin. Harmartano is the word translated
as sin and it appears 474 times in the Bible. It indeed shows us that God has
been dealing with the sin of His people for some time. However, this word translated
as evil is adikia, and most of the 25 times it appears it is translated
as unrighteousness. When we search into this word, we find that it is meant as
the unrighteousness of the heart and life. It is interesting that in this
context, it is used as the unrighteousness by which others are deceived as
opposed to aleetheia which means the truth, as in what is true under any
situation. Now we can see that because we love others, we will not rejoice when
someone lives in a manner that is deceptive, or deceiving others. We have seen
these silver-tongued deceivers at work firsthand and their lives are nothing to
rejoice about. However, these silver-tongued purveyors of deception may not be
the only ones who live deceptively. We have known those who profess to be a
Christian, a follower of Jesus, who announce their lack of sin, or at least, state
they cannot remember the last time they sinned. Even when we think more highly
of ourselves than we should, we might be guilty of living in a deceptive manner
and that would be contrary to love for others. This kind of living deceptively
is diametrically opposed in this context to living truthfully. Here is where we
can rejoice and be glad because loving each other means being honest with others,
telling the truth about our lives, with all our faults and all our successes.
We can give an honest witness to the grace of God and His loving kindness in
our lives. We can testify to His mercy, His unforgiveness of our sin. We can
proclaim His mighty acts for our benefit and that our humanity stands in the
way of our perfection on this earth, but that one day we will live forever in
the perfection of our Lord. Until then, truthfully, we still deal with our imperfection, and our tendency toward sin, but not with guilt, but with thanksgiving that God has
declared us to be holy and blameless in His sight because we are in Christ. We cannot
live the lie, we must live the truth.
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