Love Trusts: 1 Corinthians 13

I used to consider myself a person of pretty strong faith.  I have, in the last few months and even the last couple of years, come to realize that I have a lot to learn about trust.  I am a very take-charge person and that can translate to bossiness, micromanaging, control freak...you get the picture.  I am used to taking care of myself, planning out my life, and sometimes managing (ok, butting in to) the lives of those closest to me.

This afternoon in one of my classes, a classmate quoted 1 Corinthians 13:7: "[Love] always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

Here are a few other versions of the same verse:
"[Love] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." (NKJV)


"Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]." (Amplified)


"Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,^(N) endures all things." (ESV)


I like how the Amplified version translates it.  That's basically how my professor explained the passage: Love is ready to believe the best of people; it trusts them on the basis of love.  It's not a blind belief or trust, but one that says "I love you and I know you love me so I'm going to trust you."


This is the kind of love we can have with God.  This is the kind of love and trust I should be striving for in my relationship with God, and in a human relationship also.


My problem, I think, is the common human misconception that I know best.  This is quite false, of course.  I don't know best.  God does.  And he is in authority over me, he has put others in authority over me, and it is hugely beneficial to me to put myself under the care of those who are in loving authority over me.

It's really quite silly, when I stop to think about it, for me to try to do everything on my own and control every aspect of my life.  It might seem scary to let God manage our lives- I mean, it's our lives, after all, right?  But a whole life is a pretty huge thing to manage alone.  God is a pretty huge God, and he can handle our lives even when they're too much for us.  Not only that, but he's put people in our lives to help us along the way: spouses, parents, friends.

As I strive to love the way God loves, I am going to trust as love trusts.