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by Charlie Wolcott

“Love always protects, always trusts…” (1 Corinthians 13:7, NIV)
“…bears all things, believes all things…” (1 Corinthians 13:7, NKJV)

Love is a verb. It is not a state of being. It is a willful choice and it behaves in particular ways. Paul makes clear what love is and what it is not, because there are many people, especially today, who seek to confuse what love actually is. I could not believe what I was reading when Rob Bell in Velvet Elvis suggests the Bible leaves more questions than answers and used “Love your neighbor” from Luke as his example (page 31). He asks, “What does it mean to love?”, “Who is my neighbor?”, “The Bible doesn’t say, so it’s more confusing than clear.” My literal response to that was: “Did you not read the rest of the passage where Jesus addressed a Pharisee for asking that very question and gave the parable of the Good Samaritan? Did you not read 1 Corinthians 13?” This is the same man who wrote Love Wins a few years later, which promotes the false doctrine of universalism, the idea that everyone will get to heaven even if they do not receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. The Bible is clear and while I am not perfect nor a great orator, when I speak and write I seek to give a clear message so anyone who hears and reads me knows exactly what it is they embrace or reject. I hope that has been the case in this series on 1 Corinthians 13. Today, I will l look at two actions of love: protection and trust.

Love Always Protects

Ray Comfort gives an account of being an assistant pastor when a couple was getting into a very heated argument. The man was not a Christian and he was a big man. The woman was quite small and as he arrived, he pushed her to the ground. Ray raced up to stand between the aggressive man and his girlfriend and he was about to punch his lights out. Then Ray’s wife, a very tiny gal, raced in front of him and said, “Don’t you touch my husband.” The man turned and punched the wall and left the church. Both of them were left shaking in fear. He described how his wife’s love for him drove fear out of her to protect him.

Love always protects. Love acts as a shield. Shields are designed to take the hit so you don’t have to. Girls, stop looking for a knight in shining armor; shining armor is armor which has never been tested in battle. You want a man who has seen battle and when trouble comes, he will rise up and defend you. I am a fencer and coach. I teach the Epee discipline at a local club. In Epee, the target is the entire body, and the weapon hand and arm is the most sought after target because its closer to you. The weapon has a large “bell guard” which protects that hand. Most fencers have “bell guards” which are totally dinged up and beaten up because they have been hit, protecting the hand and arm. Anytime I see a brand-new bell guard when I fence, I want to hit it. Love protects and to protect means you get hit instead of someone else. This is intercession in a nutshell. Love intercedes.

You cannot protect someone unless there is a viable threat against that someone. Why do you build a shelter? To protect you from heat, cold, rain, wind, snow, wild beasts, or strangers. You lock your doors at night. Why? Because you don’t trust those outside to leave your property alone. You lock things up because you want to protect the valuables inside your house and that includes you and your family. You love them so you will protect them.

Our churches today and our generation as a whole do not love anything but ourselves because we are not protecting others from legitimate enemies. We are quick to protect ourselves but that is as far as it goes. We have a generation with no warriors who will fight for a cause greater than self and self’s interests. Pastors are not standing up to false teachings or teachers who are devouring the sheep for fear of offending the goats, let alone the wolves. Anytime someone dares to do so, said speakers of truth are mocked, insulted, accused of legalism, or simply booted out of their position so they can’t speak it. Love protects and love takes the hit. Love stands up to anything that would harm that which is loves.

Love Always Trusts

Love gives the benefit of the doubt. I have seen no better demonstration of such love than in the conversion of Nikki Cruz (story found here). Cruz was the most violent gang warlord, wore a trashcan for protection, and had a nail-riddled bat, and create all kinds of havoc. Until a tiny preacher from nowhere Pennsylvania by the name of David Wilkerson came to the streets of New York City. He held a revival meeting, inviting multiple gangs to the event, when war was always on the verge of breaking out, and took an offering. Cruz was one of the “enforcers” and Wilkerson had Cruz finish by going behind the stage where the back door was visible before brining it to him. Cruz realized right before he was about to run with the money that Wilkerson trusted him with that money. He delivered it and was saved that night.

Love always is willing to give someone another chance. It is not gullible nor it is an enabler of sin, but it always strives to see the best in people. Love does not care how many times someone has failed, but it strives to work with that person to see it through to completion. Nothing can build confidence in an athlete better than a coach being willing to play him/her in a clutch situation, especially if that athlete had failed in a similar situation before. When someone trusts you and you succeed in fulfilling that trust, there is a satisfaction which cannot be described.

Trusting love is gradually built. It is not instantly mature. You trust a child with a small task here and there and then as they prove faithful in the small tasks, they soon are given bigger tasks. But if that trust is not built, then expectations are also kept low. Jesus trusted his Church upon a band of 12 misfits who had also sorts of problems, including giving the money bag to a thief who would eventually betray him. Was that trust misplaced or naïve? Not necessarily. Jesus knew who he was and he was giving Judas every opportunity to not take the path he eventually would take. Yet when the Holy Spirit took over at Pentecost, the eleven who remained turned the world upside down because Jesus put his trust in men whom the world rejected but had what was needed to do the job.

Love protects and love trusts. Next week, we will see how love always hopes and always perseveres.

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