Quick Note – 1 Corinthians 13:5 – Selective Memory

1 Corinthians 13:4-5 – “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.  It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful….”

Our memories are a funny thing.  We seem to remember certain things that seem of little consequence to others but have no recollection of other things that have happened which may seem more important.  This seems to happen a lot in my family (maybe it’s genetic).  For example, my mom will forget a Hallmark movie that we watched just a week ago, but she can remember the exact details of her secret recipe for chocolate cake.  I, on the other hand, can remember the exact page number in my anatomy text book from high school that contained a map of the human body (pg. 16 by the way) but can’t seem to remember that my parents told me to turn off the oven in two hours.  Why is that?  Why can I remember certain things and not others?  I think we can attribute this to something called selective memory.  We choose the things we value and remember and choose the things that we feel are inconsequential and forget.  We say that our memories can shape how we view our world, but I think, it can go the other way as well – how we view things can also shape what memories we value and maintain.  But before I become way too philosophical, let’s get to the point of this quick note.

One thing that almost always happens when we argue with someone we love and care about is that we bring up all the past mistakes they have made.  We can rehash something hurtful done to us years ago but can’t seem to remember the blessing they were to us just yesterday.  We will then throw all those things in their face and make them feel awful for hurting us.  In 1 Corinthians 13:5, we are told that love is not resentful; or in other words, given by the side notes in the ESV version, love “does not count up wrongdoing.”  That means that when we love someone, we must be willing to forgive them and no longer hold it against them.  We must learn to forgive.  I’m not saying that it is easy, because it certainly is not.  It is not easy to forgive a person who has done you wrong.  But our Lord Jesus Christ, our Heavenly Father, forgave us for all the sins that we committed against Him, so how can we not do the same for others?  Ephesians 4:32 says, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”  Let us learn to forgive.  Let us learn to show our love for others by forgiving them.  We are thirteen days into the new year still.  Let’s let go of the past and forgive those who have wronged us, even if they don’t deserve it.  For when we do, we will be showing them the love of God that is now in us.