[Love] . . . does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. (1 Corinthians 13:5)
Week 5, Day 1
For a few months in my junior year of high school, I dated Jean. I also worked after school and often ran into a time problem of picking her up, going out for a date, and getting her home at a reasonable hour. When I worked overtime, I’d ask her to meet me near where I worked.
One evening I called and asked her to meet me. “No,” she said, “I’ve done this eight times before, and I’m not going to do it again.” She didn’t. We never dated after that, either.
I laugh now at Jean keeping score. But a lot of people do. They remember every slight, every misspoken word, every mistake. They can tell you exactly how many times you’ve done anything wrong.
True love doesn’t hold on to mistakes. True love forgives and forgets. Forgetting means it’s as though it never happened. God’s love treats us that way. When we confess sin, he forgives and doesn’t bring it up again.
True lovers treat each other that way. They forgive and forgive and forgive. They forgive without even being asked. “Love… will hardly even notice when others do it wrong.”
Some people have trouble forgiving and not holding grudges. I suspect they have trouble also in believing they’ve been forgiven. Because they haven’t experienced forgiving love, it’s hard for them to give it. Real lovers help each other learn to forgive by forgiving first. They teach by the way they live that we can bury the mistakes of the past.
A few months ago, a couple who had been married nearly twenty years related an experience from their courtship days. “We had a terrible row,” he said. “We yelled at each other and I stormed off.” He paused and looked at his wife. “Honey, do you remember what we argued about?”
She thought for a minute and said, “No, I don’t. I only remember that when you walked away, I ran after you and that ended it.”
Love never keeps score and always forgets the bad.
Lord God, help me remember the good, forget the bad, and be quick to forgive. Amen.