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"Believeth All Things"
Included in the list of the many attributes of “love” or “charity”
(1 Corinthians 13) is this quality: Love “believeth all things”
(vs. 7). Someone may say, “Oh, yes! That’s one of my qualities! I
believe everything I hear about my brethren.” No! That is nowhere near
what the Holy Spirit would have you understand from this passage. In
some respects, it is just the opposite.
“The flesh is ready to believe all things about a brother and a
fellow man in an evil sense. Love does the opposite, it is confident to
the last” (The Interpretation of 1 & 2 Corinthians, R.C.H. Lenski).
The one who loves his brother believes the best concerning him. He does
not sit at home in a state of wonderment, meditating as to what
underhanded motives he can attribute to his brother’s doings. (“Evil
suspicions,” 1 Timothy 6:4.) Rather, he earnestly desires in his
mind to put the conduct of his brother in the best possible light.
Does this mean he is naively gullible? No -- and in his mind he
is not seeking to ‘justify the wicked’ (Proverbs 17:5). But his
attitude is such that, until presented with undeniable proof to the
contrary, he will give his brother the benefit of the doubt. To do
otherwise would be to judge “according to appearance” (a thing
our Lord forbade, John 7:24), an answering of a matter before he hears
it (Proverbs 18:13). Furthermore, he understands that to “believe all
things” is simply an application of the ‘golden rule,’ knowing that
he would like to be so treated under similar circumstances (Matthew
7:12).
This attribute causes him, even when he knows he has been wronged
by his brother, to go and talk out their differences (Matthew 18:15).
Why? Because he wants to “believe” the best of his brother, and
he as well “hopes all things” concerning him (1 Corinthians
13:7). Consequently, when a third party (of whom as well he wishes to “believe
all things”) relates some information of a negative sort about his
brother, he will automatically question in his own mind (if not openly)
the validity of such. Evidence may be asked for, or he may even take the
accuser by the hand to openly confront the accused. Why? He “believes
all things.”
This is but one of the many attributes of charity. Let each be
reminded that “though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and
though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth
me nothing.” It’s that important.
--Mike Noble
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