1 Corinthians 13:5d love thinks no evil

Let us be clear here, if you have an evil thought, it isn’t God who put it there. My best guess is that we have sinful thoughts that we do not classify as evil. We reserve the classification of evil to the most hideous and sinister category. God doesn’t think sin, so those lesser thoughts are on us.

Thinking is a natural process and there is a complex series of emotional and historical storage within our minds that play their part in our reasoning process. Wisdom aside, not all of us have the same experiences and we vary because of it in our ability to control our thoughts. My post-traumatic stress disorder has shown me one thing very valuable about the connection between history and reasoning. It was never what you thought it was just because you are strongly affected by events.

While the bible only spells out the renewing of the mind clearly in two places, Romans 12:2 and Ephesians 4:23, there is a serious need to let go of the past ways of thinking and take on a new mindset.

1 Corinthians 1:10, 2:16 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ.

How to do that isn’t made clear but there is a hint.

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

1 Corinthians 13:5c Love is not easily provoked

That doesn’t say love cannot be provoked, just that it isn’t easy. We are talking agape love being provoked. If we are going to compare apples to apples then we must not include those things which provoke us in the natural. Who we are in the natural is not God, nor God’s perfect love. When I lose it, it is not God who loses it and is not an agape love response. So let us be clear on what provokes agape love aside from what provokes us in the flesh, because we still have flesh.

The way I see it is that the abiding love of God in us is only provoked by our rebellion, not by anything that is happening to us externally. Would He prefer that we turn the other cheek? Yes. If we don’t He understands and goes to work correcting what needs to be corrected to elicit a better response.

There needs to be a serious self-examination of those things that easily provoke us. As my example, I am more aware of drivers around me and give place for people to cut me off in traffic because I know they will. They no longer provoke me because I know that road rage is a personal issue that only I can manage.

Are the things that provoke you within your control? Probably not since I have witnessed so many ugly responses on social media. It is so easy to be ugly there because it’s a computer screen you face and not a person. How much of that attitude gives place to bad actions in the real world? It makes it easier to be provoked in the real world if you cannot keep your emotions in check privately.