Living and Loving in the Truth // 1 Corinthians 13:6

Today’s verse comes from the broader context of the beautiful sentiments regarding love in 1 Corinthians 13. We see how God’s very nature is love. We also know from John 14:6 that Jesus identified Himself as truth. We look around and see the evidence of God and truth all around us, but must experience this in light of our human nature to succumb to evil. I think this can happen in two ways. The first happens when we allow ourselves to be tempted into doing things that we know are wrong but think are fun. The thrill of getting away with something can be intoxicating, can’t it? God’s enemy, and our enemy, too, wants to deceive you into thinking that such things don’t hurt anybody, and resisting them makes you nothing more than a fuddy duddy. Delighting in things that are bad for us and/or others leads us in the path of evil. But that isn’t all. Just like misery loves company, misbehavior does as well. We find validation in doing things we know we shouldn’t when we can get others to join in, too. This is the essence of peer pressure. Then, when we succeed in dragging down someone else, we can rationalize our collective behavior and feel better about ourselves. Neither of those postures toward living are loving, are they? So much of either posture has to do with making ourselves feel better at the expense of another. That means we put self at the center of life as opposed to God. The “if-it-feels-good-do-it-mentality” is destructive to our soul, and trying to get someone else to join in to ensure we feel better about our misbehavior is even worse for us. So, let’s get back to the heart of today’s passage. Know that God spelled out how He wants us to live based on His truth. That truth is sourced in love. May we all rejoice in that, even when it’s unpopular and hard. It’s what God wants for us all.