Two-minute read.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Corinthians 13:7
Trusting and optimistic.
Love covers others’ faults, believes, and hopes for the best, enduring until the end. Where I always jump to the worst-case scenario, love does the opposite. When faced with a decision, a love-filled conclusion will come up with the best-case scenario, believing it true until proven false.
On a recent camping trip, Ron and I sat by the fire, watching the traffic go by. When a white muscle car with dark, tinted windows stopped, it raised my suspicions.
“They’re up to no good,” I said to Ron.
“You don’t know that,” he replied. After much debate, we concluded that the people had stopped to look at the view. Camping on a small lake, you could see the glistening water through the bare trees. Cold-weather camping, no leaves blocking the view, the car perched on top of a small hill, giving it a bird’s eye view of the lake.
However, when we heard the rumbling engine a second time, I discarded the obvious, once again sure they had impure motivations. Laughing, Ron read the vanity license plate with a girl’s name, assuring me they just wanted to look at the water.
My human nature tends to think the worst instead of the best. I must change my natural tendencies to live a loving lifestyle. On my task list, I have a reminder, “Choose to believe the best about people!” When my mind starts down negative rabbit trails, I must coach myself to change my thinking.
Love does change us. Putting love into action requires us to think the best, not the worst. When life gets tough, we persevere, hoping for better things to come, enduring the fire, and knowing love always wins. Love, a verb, demands action both mentally and physically. We must first think of a loving response before we can act on it.
God knows we can change. As our Creator, the Lord knows our human instincts, but Jesus came to show us a different way. Instead of responding out of hatred, we can respond with love. Accepting Christ into our lives gives us new life, leaving the old ways behind and adopting Jesus’s thinking. Becoming more like the Savior will help us love more and distrust less.
Love Challenge:
Choose to think the best today. Instead of conforming to the world’s view, ask God to help you see people through His lens of love.
