1 Corinthians 13:4-7 defines spiritual love with its 15 characteristics. One of them is that love does not take into account a wrong suffered. Here, 'a wrong suffered' refers to thinking of evil. Then, how much spiritual love do you have as God's children? By looking into three types of evil thoughts and checking yourself, please cast off every form of evil quickly and achieve beautiful and good spiritual love.
01_Have you not wanted something to go wrong with someone else?
When you see somebody who studies better than you or someone's business is better than your business, if you hope for that business or the person's studying not to go so well, it is an evil thought. Suppose a neighbor who is on bad terms with you is faced with something unfortunate. If you think, 'Good! I knew it would happen!' it is an evil thought.
If you have true love in you, you will never think such evil things. You would want your dear ones to always be healthy and free of any accidents. Because you don't have spiritual love in your heart, you want something to go wrong with others, and you rejoice with other people's unhappiness. Then, you also want to know others' faults or shortcomings and spread them to others.
Suppose you went to a meeting, and somebody there was saying something bad about another person. If you are interested in such a conversation, then, you ought to check your heart. It shows that you have the desire to slander and gossip about others. "He who conceals a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates intimate friends" (Proverbs 17:9).
Those who are good and have love in their hearts will try to cover the fault of others. Also, if we have spiritual love, we will not be jealous or envious when others are well-off. We would just want them to be well-off and loved by others. We will bless with our hearts even those who do evil to us as said in Romans 12:14, "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse."
02_Have you not passed judgment or condemnation on others?
If you have spiritual love in your heart, you won't have any kind of evil thoughts in the first place. Even if you hear something that is not good about someone, you don't pass judgment or condemnation on him unless you double-check the facts. If you really love somebody, you will try to think of him in the best way possible.
But today, we find that people think evil of others and say bad things about them so easily. It is not done only in personal relationships, but they also criticize those who are in public positions. They don't even try to see the whole picture as to what really happened, and yet judge and condemn others in their own standard.
James 4:12 warns us, "There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor?" Suppose someone clearly did something wrong. In this situation, to those who have spiritual love it is not important whether she is right or wrong in what she did. They would just think of what is really beneficial for her. They just want her soul to be prosperous and for her to be loved by God.
As Proverbs 10:12 says, "Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all transgressions," we should cover the transgression of others and forgive them and, moreover, help them to be able to repent. We should also be able to teach the truth and touch their hearts so that they can go the right way and change themsevles. If we do not have any thought of judging or condemning others, we will harbor everything with love and be happy with whomever we meet.
03_Do you have thoughts that are against the will of God?
In the world, people who live by moral standards and according to conscience are said to be living in goodness. But neither morality nor conscience can be the absolute standard of goodness. Both have many things that are contrary to or completely the opposite to God's Word. Only the Word of God can be the absolute standard of goodness. It is because any thought that is not in accordance with the Word of God is an evil thought.
As 1 John 3:4 reads, "Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness," sin is lawlessness and acting against the Law of God. Thus, sin and evil are both untruth which is against the truth that is the Word of God. When we compare these with a tree, evil is like the root that is in the ground and is not visible, and sin is like the branches, leaves, and fruits. Without a root, a tree cannot have branches, leaves, or fruits. So, sin is realized because of evil.
Because men have evil, they commit sins. For instance, if you say something bad to those whom you hate, it is that evil attribute, that is, hatred in you comes out as evident sin like evil word. Here, we should understand that even though one has evil in his heart, it is not definite that he will commit sins.
If he is well-educated, listens to the Word of God, and has self-control, he can avoid committing sins even though he has some evil in his heart. However, only when he casts off evil that is in the nature deep in his heart can he achieve sanctification of the heart. Everybody has evil that is inherited from parents, but it is rarely realized unless a person is put in an extreme situation that causes it to come out and be recognized outwardly. That is why 1 Thessalonians 5:22 reads, "Abstain from every form of evil."
Love is the fulfillment of the Law. So, not to have love is against the Law. It is evil, and sin (1 John 3:23; Romans 13:10). Namely, to check whether we are taking into account wrongs suffered, we can think of how much love we have in us. To the extent that we love God and other souls, we will not take into account a wrong suffered.
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