“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth”  1 Corinthians 13:4-6 (NIV).

This underlined sentence (Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth) is a type of literary structure that restates itself in an opposite way for emphasis. So in other words, it’s saying the same thing twice, but in a different way—for emphasis.

According to Webster, the word “delight” means “high degree of gratification or pleasure, joy; also extreme satisfaction. The word “rejoice” means “to give joy to or to gladden”, so we can say that they mean essentially the same thing. Here’s a verse where both words are used:

“Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord and delight in his salvation” Psalm 35:9.

We know that God is love (1 John 4:8), and if we love God, we should love what He loves and hate what he hates (Psalm 97:10). God hates evil. In a speech by Franklin Graham, he says this about hate: “The only things I believe the Bible says we should hate are the very things God hates:”

• “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers” (Proverbs 6:16-19).
• “Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good” (Romans 12:9).
• “The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate” (Proverbs 8:13).
• “The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence” (Psalm 11:5).
• “O you who love the Lord, hate evil!” (Psalm 97:10).

Jesus describes himself as the truth (John 14:6). Jesus wasn’t afraid to call Satan what he is: a liar and the father of lies. Jesus said, “There is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44). 

I believe that in this passage, Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth, we learn that a very important attribute of love is scrupulous honesty. God hates evil; he describes Satan as the father of lies. Truth and dishonesty are mutually exclusive; that is, if there is a lie, there is no truth, and if there is truth, there is no dishonesty. The very first tenet in the Mission’s Code of Conduct is Honesty, and it is the foundation of every other tenet. Honesty is essential to integrity, or wholeness. As the Scripture reads, “I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things I have given willingly and with honest intent” (1 Chronicles 29:17).

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten Season. Many who observe Lent do so by giving up something; however, the key to observing Lent is to focus on repenting of sin and consecrating oneself to God. Let us observe this holy time leading up to Easter showing our love for God and for each other by striving to be completely honest in all our ways, while also demonstrating all the attributes of agape love that we have been learning about.

In Christ,

Judy