Week 11: Love Rejoices with Truth

The text here for Weeks 10 and 11 really go together. Week 10 which is “Love does not delight in evil” is followed quickly by “Love rejoices with truth”. Paul was showing here the opposite action of delighting in evil, which is of course rejoicing with truth. They are tied together, but I separated them into two weeks because I think we need to look at both separately to see how they practically work in our lives. Since we’ve already talked about not delighting in evil, let’s look at what it means to rejoice with truth.

Our most fundamental way to rejoice with truth is to read the Word. We hear a lot of versions of ‘truth’ from all kinds of sources on a daily basis. Not only from television or social media, but also in our own minds. I don’t know about you, but I hear a lot of things in my head that I have to choose not to believe in. I can only do this because of God’s Word. When I feel too many doubts and lies rise up in my mind, I go to the Word, where I know truth will wash over me, calm my mind, and bring peace to my soul. We rejoice with truth when we read the word and allow it to soak into our hearts.

Another way to rejoice with truth is to be genuinely happy for someone else’s gift. Let me explain. Someone with a spiritual gift is walking in truth when they exercise it. They are bringing something from heaven down to earth, which is what we should be praying for every day (remember Jesus’s prayer?). When we’re jealous of someone else’s gift, or we don’t appreciate it, or even dismiss it, we are not rejoicing with truth - we are snuffing it out (at least in our own hearts), and we do not benefit from this beautiful truth. It hurts when someone is better than me at something, or gets more attention for it, but I can rejoice in their gift anyway, because it’s from God, and because I am able to receive something from God through that person…once I get over myself.

My favorite way to rejoice with truth is worship. In worship, we are singing and exulting in truth. It’s setting us free, and God is reminding us that HE is reality, not the blinding world we live in. Isn’t it amazing how worship can bring you into a place where you realize nothing else matters? This is definitely Rejoicing with Truth.

Standing on truth

Another way to rejoice in the truth, I believe, is to Stand On It. It’s easy to believe lies, it’s easy to let evil win in small ways in our lives without even knowing it. Sometimes we find ourselves in situations that can only be explained by realizing that somewhere along the line we’ve missed the mark slightly. Even the smallest veer to the right or left can set a traveler miles away from his destination. When we make small, seemingly harmless agreements with lies, we find ourselves far from where we intended to be. We say things like, “why is this happening to me?” “Why hasn’t God taken this from me yet?” “How long will I have to endure this pain?” Not always, but sometimes, it’s our own fault. We have agreed with and live by utter lies. The best way to let love win in our lives, is to stand on the truth and rejoice in it…even when we don’t see it.

It’s amazing that this has brought me into the next week, “Love Never Gives Up.” In a way, it’s a reminder to keep standing on truth, keep living in love, keep walking without fear. Keep going. Stand on truth. Rejoice. And maybe even…Repeat.

How can God be called ‘Jealous’?

The bible definitely talks about envy and jealousy in the way we understand it. Psalms and Proverbs are constantly telling us to not envy the wicked and their riches. Ecclesiastes talks about our envy of others causing us to strive in achievement. There is no mystery about what this word means when it was translated from Greek to English. So how can the bible say “Love is not jealous”, and yet say that God’s own name is ‘Jealous’ (Exodus 34:14)? Not to mention the hundreds of verses where it says ‘God is jealous’. The bible even mentions a few times when God provokes jealousy in His people because He wants their hearts to turn back to Him. Even Paul writes to the Christians that he wishes he could make the Israelites jealous so that they would want Jesus. Why would God want us to be jealous, but then say, “love is not jealous”. Isn’t God Himself Love?

Confusing. But I think there’s so much here we can learn. I think it would help if we looked at it the way we look at…sex. (Sorry, PG-13, but hear me out.) There is healthy sex and there is unhealthy sex. Healthy sex brings life and healing and joy. Unhealthy sex brings pain and longing and damage. There seems to be a “healthy jealousy” in the bible. When God is jealous, His desire is for us (mostly after we’ve turned away from Him.) He is angry with His bride, Israel, because she’s broken her covenant with Him and whored around to whoever would sleep with her. His jealousy is a healthy jealousy that invokes Him to fight for His bride. What woman doesn’t want to be chased by the man they love?

I recently watched How to Train Your Dragon 2 with my kids and was blown away by a scene where the main character (Hiccup) finds his long lost mother (thought to be killed by a dragon 20 years ago) reuniting with his father, the ruler of the Vikings. He’s a big, scary, stubborn kind of guy. When he sees his wife for the first time in a long time, he is serious, yet full of emotion, and he is…gentle. He loves her, and welcomes her back to be his wife again even though she wandered off without looking back.

I love this scene because it reminds me of God’s heart for us. It doesn’t matter what we do. He always desires for us to come back to Him. He just keeps trying, keeps waiting, in patience (week one), and kindness (week two), for us to love Him back. He is jealous for us, because we are His bride, and He’s supposed to be jealous for His bride, just like we are supposed to be jealous for Him.  This is healthy jealousy.

So what is unhealthy jealousy? 1 Corinthians is saying that love is not jealous for the wrong things. Love isn’t jealous for a nice house, a good job, a better personality, a smaller nose, quiet children, or a helpful husband. Love is jealous only for the Lover of our souls! Our jealousy can not be aimed at anything but His heart and loving Him. That is what Paul meant when he wrote “Love is not jealous”. He means love doesn’t look around and see all the things it doesn’t have.  Love is being so committed and connected to God’s heart, that we just want more of Him, and all the other stuff we want fades away into the distance, because Love realizes nothing comes close to the Lover's embrace.