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THE KING'S BUSINESS
welfare o f others and oblivious to our own interests. -We follow Christ who sought not His own good but the good o f others, even to the extent o f leaving heaven and coming to earth, and being here on earth even to ,the extent of dying a felon’s death that He might secure the good o f others. ( 8 ) Love “ is not provoked.” The Author ized Version says “not easily provoked, but there is no “easily” in the Greek text. What the Spirit o f God said by Paul seemed to be rather too searching for the transla tors o f the Authorized Version, so they inserted the word “ easily,” but what God here says is that love is’ not provoked at all. Love may be grieved often, but is irri tated never. (9) Love “taketh not account of evil.” Love never puts down in its books nor in its memory the wrong done us by others. If Satan whispers that we should recall a wrong some one else has done us, love says “ forget it.” Love looks upon the one who has done us the greatest wrong as if he Had never wronged ns at all. vs. 6 , 7. “Rejoiceth, not in iniquity (unrighteousness), but rejoiceth in (with) the truth: ( ;) beareth all things, believeth a ll.things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” Here we have six more o f the fifteen marks o f love: ( 10 ) Love “ rejoic eth not in unrighteousness,” . Why is it we are so fond o f dwelling upon the evil that exists in church and state? Because we do not love." True love takes no delight in the unrighteousness that others do, indeed it grieves over it. Much o f our dwelling upon the unrighteous deeds o f men, even much o f our indignant vituperation o f it, Is of such a character that shows We are really glad they are doing» it, because it gives us an opportunity o f exalting ourselves above- the offender. (11) Love “ rejoiceth with the truth.” I f we really love our hearts will bound with joy whenever we discover truth in others, we will gladly call atten tion to it. As it is, many o f us are more prone to call attention to the unrighteous ness that there is in others, rather than the truth that there is in them, and thus we show that we rejoice' in unrighteousness, which love never does, and do not rejoice
as pleasant as our own welfare or good. If we ever grieve, even secretly, over another’s progress or" success, temporal or spiritual, and try to- discount that progress, as so many o f us oftentimes do, it proves that love is lacking in our hearts (Jas. 3jl4-16, R. V .). Love never envies, and the pres ence o f envy is proof o f the .absence of love. (4) “ Love vaunteth not itself.” If we love, another’s greatness is as precious to us as our own. How is it then that some o f us talk so much o f our own greatness and are so anxious that others see it and appreciate it, and talk so little o f the great ness o f ethers? There is no surer mark o f the absence o f love and presence o f sel fishness than this. Love never puts self, or one’s own interests, or one’s own attain ments forward, it keeps self and our attain ments out of sight. (S) Love “ is not puffed up.” If we really love we will be so occu pied with the excellencies o f \others. that there will be no thought of being inflated over our own (cf. Phil. 2:3, 4). ( 6 ) Love “ doth not behave itself unseemly.” Love is too considerate of the feelings of others to do indecorous things. Many people seem to delight in being boorish and in showing their contempt at all conventions. But to take a rude delight in trampling all convention under foot and playing the boo'r proves that we lack love in our hearts, and that we over-estimate ourselves. Love will make any man a perfect gentleman and any woman a perfect lady. Nothing else will teach us what is “good form” so well as love. Each o f us will do well to ask ourselves, have we a due regard for the feelings, and even for the notions, of others. I f we'have love in the heart we will be well behaved and do things that may seem unnecessary to us in themselves, but which are necessary to keep from hurting the feelings o f others. To love there aye f e w .things more necessary than not hurt ing the feelings qf*others. (7) Love “ seek- eth not its ownp’ These words need little comment, bu t/h ey need much exemplifica tion in our daily life (cf. ch. 10:24, 33; 1 John 3:16,^7, R. V .; 2 Tim 2:10). In so «ar as W love we are occupied with the
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