Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
In my day job, working as a teacher, the end of term is always a busy time. At the end of the summer term I found myself writing 150 end of year reports for my pupils. This was a particularly arduous task this year since my school has recently moved to a new management information system. This complex computer programme keeps details of all of our pupils, including records of all their good and bad behaviour.
As Christians we are fortunate to have a loving father in heaven who, unlike my school, does not keep a record of every time we do something wrong. Although we all sin many times every day, we can be confident that God has not only forgiven us, but that he wipes our slate clean every time. Since Jesus took all of our sin on himself on the cross and settled our debt with God, we are seen to be pure and blameless in his eyes.
If we are to live out one of the greatest commandments, to love our neighbour as ourselves, we should learn from the example God gives us. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, describes some of the characteristics of love. One of these is that love keeps no record of wrongs.
If we love our neighbour, we must accept that there will be times when they wrong us. Once we have suitably dealt with their wrongdoing, we must wipe their slate clean too; we must forget that they have ever wronged us and move forward in loving friendship. If we do not, our relationship with our neighbours will deteriorate and we will find ourselves burning up inside with anger. We must forgive and forget and not allow any actions they take to leave a permanent scar on our heart. This is by no means easy, but it is what we are required to do as Christians. It is an important part of loving our neighbours.
I pray today that we will not allow our hearts to be scarred by the actions or words of others. I pray that God will help us to forgive and forget, just as he has done with us.
As featured on Premier Christian Radio’s ‘Inspirational Breakfast’.
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