Love Hopes for the Best

“Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” (1Co 13:7 AV)

 

The context here is charity.  Especially towards another individual.  Modern corrupted versions of the Bible translate charity as love.  This is unfortunate.  In the first place, it is an unwarranted corruption.  It is a manipulation of the text.  It is dishonest and one which the Author will judge.  But even more so, by changing charity to love, the text loses some meaning.  Love is a general term.  There can be selfish and sacrificial love.  But there can also be self-gratifying love.  Amnon comes to mind.  By using the word charity, the Spirit is speaking of the highest form of love.  That is unconditional love without any expectations whatsoever.  Charity is purely sacrificial and self-abasing.  Charity does not expect the same in return.  Charity sees no return on its investment.  And above all, charity is paid to those in desperate need thereof.  With that in mind, the Spirit wishes us to consider one characteristic of charity.  That is, it has hope.  Not for itself or any return it may or may not receive.  Rather, charity hopes in all things concerning to one upon whom charity is exercised.

There are so many ways in which we can look at this, but let me give you an example of how this might look.  At a particular church in which I served, we had a number of kids coming from broken homes.  Either they were raised by a single parent whose main function was to work to meet the needs of the family.  This often left that child vacant of any adult supervision or affirmation.  Because of the situation, this single parent felt burned out and the method of ruling the house was the easiest one that came to mind.  A lot of yelling and beating with little to no affirmation.  These children were unruly, undisciplined, and lacked the motivation to succeed in any way.  Their whole life was about survival and entertainment.  So, when the church got them for a few hours a week, it was a struggle to overcome this and teach them Bible.  In one particular incident, I was teaching teens and asked them what word was the noun, verb, adjective, and adverb.  Then I asked what tense the verb was.  I got no answer.  A worker told me later they didn’t really spend time on things like this because these kids come from broken homes and what we had was all we could expect.  This is not charity!  Charity hopes these kids can learn and they can excel.  What is true for the child from is disadvantaged home is also true of the drunk, the drug user, or the fornicator.  What is true of the child who struggles because of lousy home life is also true of the perpetually backslidden Christian.  Charity hopes for the best in all things and works to that end.  This is a passion of mine.  Never give up on someone just because we have an opinion our efforts may not get anywhere.  Hope in all things!

The Bible correctly teaches us that the nature of the individual is basically wicked.  We are failures by nature.  The prophet says, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.” (Jer 13:23 AV) The question is a true statement of our human nature.  But that does not mean we should treat others that way.  The thing is, Jesus has overcome the world, the devil, and the flesh.  It might be our nature, but God can overcome our limitations.  Upon that reality lies this hope.  There should never come a time when we write of someone as irredeemable.  No matter how frustrated we might get in our efforts to minister, we should never go to the point we cease to have hope that this person might turn around.  Charity sees the potential no matter how probably it may or may not be.  This is so key.  Especially when dealing with children.  Never cut off a child thinking they cannot reach a potential that you can not realistically imagine.  Hope in all things!  This is true unconditional love!