Love Does No Harm
In a therapy session for a couple with marital problems, the weary couple sat as far apart as they could, and the therapist’s chair formed an equilateral triangle with theirs as the husband insisted “I’m right about this. It’s a matter of principle.” The wife quickly retorted “No, I’m right about this, and I think it’s a matter of principle too.” “Well,” the therapist interrupted. “I think we just discovered the problem. The problem is that principle is more important to you than the other person. Maybe we need to expand your strong commitments to principle to include kindness to one another.” From a very early age I think we learn that being right is the right place to be. Psychological experiments show that when children are asked nonsensical questions, such as whether “a sweater is angrier than a tree,” most kids will invent answers rather than admit they don’t know. This tendency to fabricate answers instead of saying “I don’t know” is not just a childhood trait: it carries over into adult life to include church life, and sometimes we don’t know what we don’t know. Possessing the cold hard knowledge of theological facts without truly knowing the love and kindness sound theology should lead to leads instead to arrogance. We love to be right on the facts and this kind of love often leaves us with a very unloving spirit towards those who are not, those people who have come to Christ yet are still feeble in their understanding of the faith. Paul refers to such a believer as one whose “conscience is weak” because it has not yet matured to the point of understanding how their former way of life no longer fits into the new life in Christ they have. At our worst, we flout our superior knowledge in a way that lashes out at these “weak” sisters and brothers who haven’t come to possess our level of understanding. To no one’s surprise I’m sure, some of the Corinthians, proud in their superior knowledge, were relating to the “weak” among them in this hurtful way, ironically failing to know that the greatest knowledge is to know that “Love Does No Harm,” and to live accordingly.
We invite you to come join us this Sunday morning for our in-person worship service at Leptondale Bible Church in Newburgh, starting at 10:55 AM. For those unable to attend, our service can be viewed live on the church’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/leptondalebiblechurch. This Sunday, we’ll continue a sermon series from 1st Corinthians titled “Written for Our Instruction” with a message from 1st Corinthians 8:1-13 titled “Love Does No Harm.”
God bless!
Pastor Mike