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CURRENT RADIO SERIES Living in Hope   CURRENT TV SERIES Unchained

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.   --1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NKJV) I’d like to draw your attention to the phrase thinks no evil in today’s passage. What does it really mean when Paul says that love “thinks no evil”? In the Greek of the New Testament, the word thinks is actually a bookkeeping term. It’s a word that means “to take into account” or “to write down as a permanent record.” Which is exactly what a good bookkeeper or accountant does. They write things down as a permanent record. In accounting, keeping permanent records is vital. But in relationships, it’s deadly! If we’re going to know the love of Christ and live in the fullness of that love and grace, we need to delete those negative relational files we’ve collected over the years! Because after all, this is what Christ has done for us (Romans 5:13). The Scripture says that God has not imputed sin to us. Aren’t you glad? When it came to settling the score, Jesus took the sin that was written down against us upon the cross. He died and rose again on the third day and because of what Christ has done for us God has forgiven and forgotten our sin. It is deleted…forever gone. Yet how many of us are unwilling to delete the files? If you want to have strong, vibrant, healthy relationships, you must keep short accounts. Because love doesn’t keep score and love doesn’t settle the score. Love believes all things and hopes all things. Love thinks no evil…but thinks the best. Love doesn’t keep score but instead keeps short accounts.

Recognizing the Signs

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.”
Luke 17:37
When you drive down a country road and see a number of buzzards circling in the air, it doesn’t take special insight to understand that there is probably a dead animal nearby that has attracted their attention. We would be surprised if we drove past to discover them enjoying a particularly beautiful display of flowers in a field. That is because we know what buzzards eat and what draws their interest, so when we see them we understand what it signifies. God expects us to have the wisdom and insight to approach the world in the same way.
We should not just casually pass through life without any understanding of the events we see happening around us. Instead we should look at them through the lens of God’s Word and through the lessons of history to grasp the implications of what we see. Every nation, every church, and every family needs people with this skill. First Chronicles 12:31 speaks of “…the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do….”
The Bible often speaks of the Christian life as a war, and no soldier who sleepwalks through his days without paying attention to his surroundings can expect to survive, let alone be victorious. We need to be wise, alert, and focused on what is happening, so we can plan for the future and anticipate the return of Christ based on what we see. The Lord does not leave us without the means to evaluate circumstances and events and avoid trouble that we do not need to experience. “Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time” (Colossians 4:5).

Today’s Growth Principle: 

Looking at life through the pages of Scripture helps us understand the meaning of the events we see.