Take one off and put one On

⁶does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

⁷bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

I like it when the bible tells you what not to do, and then lets you know what to do. I call this the “take one off and put one on” way to grow in the Lord. ⁶does not rejoice in unrighteousness this sounds like a no brainer. But now I have to define what would be considered unrighteousness. When we have words, Christian only words that we can hide behind we don’t need to change. That’s why I like to see what I’m supposed to put on, but rejoices with the truth, now I see what I’m going to put on. That brings up the question; AM I REJOICING IN TRUTH OR REJOICING IN UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, LIES, HALF-TRUTHS, IMBELISHING?

What about the consequences? Sometimes telling the truth is difficult to live with. Then I read: ⁷bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. So now I have to do the right thing and trust that God will take care of all things. I will have to bear all the consequences, believe that God will take care of me, have hope in the vision that God has given me and endure all the struggles that come as God seeks to change me through my wife and kids.

A blended family is such a great opportunity to apply these verses. On several occasions I was putting up (bears) with conflicts that came from memories that were triggered from current situations. I had to suck it up, take a ten count and know (believe) that this too will pass. That as the triggers were defined and worked through eventually we will create new memories that will minimize the effects of the triggers. I had to try to see my wife as the beautiful woman that God created and my kids as the Godly man and woman that God desires. To know that one day Gods vision of what will be (hope) will one day be restored. So each day I will be the one that endures all things, all things, OK that is a bit too much to endure. I will try to get to most things first. Then I looked at the next verse where ⁸Love never fails. All and Never, the bible keeps getting harder verse by verse by truth by truth.