Love Doesn't Keep Score

Daily Reading:  1 Corinthians 12-13

[Love] does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful.  (1 Corinthians 13.5)

Devotional Thought: 1 Corinthians 13.  The Love Chapter.  We’ve heard it at weddings, read it in church services, listened to it quoted in speeches, perhaps even memorized it.  It is a beautiful chapter in the Bible.  And, as chapter 12 concludes, love is “the most excellent way.”

Love is described in beautiful words and phrases in this chapter, but one of the most compelling descriptions is found in verse 5. love "is not resentful" (ESV) or "keeps no record of wrongs" (NIV).  This is one of love’s most difficult attributes to attain.  We are a comparing and score-keeping society.  We feel that things have to be kept in balance.  If you do me wrong, then my sense of justice demands that I not forget it until that wrong has been repaid.  Love isn’t like that.  Love doesn’t keep score.  Love continually gives and forgives.

Does that mean you forget every offense?  I don’t believe that is wise, or even possible.  God has created our minds with a wonderful capacity to capture and hold memories.  Memories serve us well.  They tell us what to do to gain good results.  They are also effective defense mechanisms, telling us what to do to avoid pain and harm.  In our memories, we are able to re-live our joys.  But we are also able to re-suffer our pain.  We can’t – and shouldn’t – forget the wrong.  With the passing of time, the memory becomes fainter and dimmer, and the sting is removed, but the actual memory of it remains.  What must go, however, is the bitterness and the need for recompense.  Love demands that I give up my rights to punish you for what you have done to me.  In short, love doesn't keep score.

And that is exactly how God loves us!

Prayer: Thank you, Father, that you are not a "score-keeper."  When you, in love, forgive my sins, you bury them in the sea of your forgetfulness - never to be remembered against me again.  Hallelujah!

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 111:1-5

1 Praise the LORD.I will extol the LORD with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly.

2 Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them.

3 Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever.

4 He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the LORD is gracious and compassionate.

5 He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever.