Love Doesn’t Keep Score

"…it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs." (1 Corinthians 13:5)

These two might be my favorites of the characteristics of God's great love for us….keeping no record of wrong and not being quick to act in anger.

I have, in the not so distant past, been quite hard on myself…on my sins, past and present….and the fact that I still struggle with sin. But I have been hardest of all regarding those sins of the past that I committed AFTER I knew about Jesus. If you are like that, then you understand how this can take you right off track altogether. You can be sideswiped by guilt and remorse so badly that your entire life remains unproductive and unfruitful.

OR…you can trust God when He says His love keeps no record of wrongs. Once they've been confessed and given up, no matter how bad they were, the blood of Jesus erases the record of it. It is only WE who have trouble putting it behind us, and looking forward.

And I can get very easily angered…not usually at someone else…but very quickly so at myself. I don't seem to want to cut myself any slack…not that I think God wants to cut us slack either…He's shaping us into the image of His Son. But He doesn't want to just wipe us out and start all over…at least not right away. It takes A LOT for Him to get to the point of wanting to wipe us out and start over. He did that once with the inhabitants of the earth, but they had over 100 years to repent….but still they would not.

Well, I am a slow learner, of that there is no doubt. But I think even I might get it before my 100 years is up, or even my allotted 70. So, why do I get angry at myself, when God is so patient? Am I smarter than God? Am I more just? I don't think so.

Turns out, too, that if I am hard on myself, I will have a tendency to be hard on others. I measure them with the same measuring stick that I measure myself by. And that's wrong. I eventually realized that both of those things were wrong…to beat myself up and to be just as hard on others as I was on myself.

Better to measure with God's measuring stick. Better to measure with His love…both for myself and for others. After all, we are told to love others as we love ourselves. The problem is…many of us don't really love ourselves. And sometimes, even if we do love ourselves, it's still another thing altogether to say we like ourselves.

I'm not talking about a self-centered sort of love here. I'm talking about loving ourselves because God saw fit to love us. I'm talking about walking in agreement with God concerning His love for us. And I'm talking about then loving others, because we are able to understand God's love for us. It really has little to do with us, and everything to do with God.

Sometimes we don't think we deserve God's love. The truth is…WE DON'T! But the truth also is…that HE DOES LOVE US, no matter what. Even if we choose to ignore God, even when we choose an eternity in hell over a lifetime with Him in heaven, just so that we can do our own thing and not be bothered with God…still He loves us. Jesus died on the cross knowing full well that some of us would never believe in His love for us that put Him on that cross. Still, He went to the cross for each and every one of us, expecting nothing in return, but hoping for us nevertheless, because that's what love does. We'll get to that one.

Meanwhile, I thank God that He keeps no record of my wrongs. How about you? Do you keep records of wrongs done to you? Do you have the memory of an elephant when it comes to keeping score on who do what to whom last? Let's see, is it my turn to get back at him or did I already do that and now I'm waiting for him to get back at me?

""Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord. On the contrary: if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:17-21)