Love Does Not Look Forward to Wrongdoing
Over the past several blogs, we've reflected on love, what it is and what it isn't, how it acts, and how it forgives. We're in the best place in the Bible to do that. The love chapter is one of the most recognizable scriptures in all of religion. This makes it all the more interesting why it happens that so many Christians, preachers, and apologists fail to see this significant detail in the description of love.
Love does not rejoice in evil. The exact wording in my English translation says:
"it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth." -1 Cor 13:6
Say it with me, "Christian love makes no place for doing wrong." The word for doing wrong in Greek is the word ἀδικία. The keen-eyed Greek student will notice that this word is the anti-form of the word δίκαιος. Said word is 'righteous' in the New Testament. Have you ever rejoiced at the wrong thing?
As a small child, I experienced a lot of resentment against my younger brother. How dare he be smaller, cuter, and more spoiled than me?? Alas. As happens with sibling rivalries, we were often squabbling. We figured out rather quickly that if we tattled on the other, they would get swift punishment. There was even a sense of joy to see them do wrong because, aha! We knew they were going to get it. "Just wait till I tell Mom!" "Oooh, I'm telling!" Love is not like this.
We often look to our nation and are glad when misfortune comes to those we think are misleading the nation. The Bible has something to say about this.
"Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles, lest the Lord see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from him." -Prov 24:17
American presidents have a bit of a history of getting into trouble and being the center of controversy and critique. I would suggest that even in these cases, regardless of political color, the Word of God applies. We should not, as Christians, rejoice at misfortune or wrongdoing. Christians cannot be the ones looking forward to evil. Christian love makes no place for unrighteousness, whether on our part or on the regard for others. How high a standard!
If you find yourself in the habit of this attitude, an attitude of "righteous smugness," thinking, "serves them right!" we are not aligned to God's principle of love. Instead, let us have the attitude that Paul contrasts joy with non-righteousness. We ought instead to be happy with the truth.
In my lifetime, I have often been fearful of truth--anxious at seeing the reality come to light and that people would know my sins or mistakes. And yet, the Word of God says that in this, a Christian shows love, not in rejoicing over the wrong or even over the right, but in the truth. There's a simple reason for this. Humans are not a reliable metric of what is or is not righteous. Instead, we are to look to what God says is true and rejoice in it--even when it may be self-incriminating.
I want to end with this thought from the psalmist:
"Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!" -Psalm 139:23-24