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“Love bears the weight of misunderstanding, and it defends the heart.”

A thought by James MacDonald (2015-06-18) from his book, Lord, Change My Attitude: Before It's Too Late (p. 159). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title of the book to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Now usually when there is a misunderstanding we are very critical of the other person.  We want to set them straight.  But as 1 Corinthians 13: 7 says, “Love bears all things, believes all things.”

James says, “Love finds itself saying on a regular basis, ‘That’s not what she meant.’ It believes the best about the other person. ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about. That’s not why he did that.’”

James goes on, “When Jesus said, ‘Judge not lest you be judged,’ He was specifically dealing with motives. Of course, we have to judge actions. What we’re not to judge are motives. We don’t know why people do what they do.  Don’t ever say, ‘I know why she’s up there. I know why he does that.’ You probably do not. When you hear somebody criticizing someone you love, just say, ‘I don’t believe that, and I won’t believe it until I check with him myself.’  Love always believes the best about people. Love bears all things, believes all things.”

Do we do that?  Do we stand up for those we love?  Do we give them the benefit of the doubt or do we criticize them all the time?

It might be good for us to stop and answer those questions about those we love.


So how did you do?

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