Love Does NOT Rejoice in Evil...

So, I had an experience that was quite uncharacteristic of me at the beginning of this year. Basically, I was disobeying my parents because I thought that "love" was more important than parental authority. ((WRONG)) If you know the full story, good for you. But if you don't, it's not hard to fill in the blanks.

First of all, I was disobeying my parents. ((Exodus 20:12, Ephesians 6:1-3)), meaning I was also disobeying God((Titus 1:16, 3:3)). Now, I know how strict my parents are and I knew full-well the consequences if I were to get caught. So I was also LYING((Psalms 119:29, 120:2; Proverbs 12:19, 22)). It wasn't just ONE lie, it was a bunch...making me a LIAR((1 John 2:4; Jeremiah 50:36a)). I was also causing someone else to stumble((Mark 9:42)). Ouch.

My parents said that if I hadn't lied about what I was doing, I would've been allowed to date the guy. So basically, if I had done the right thing, I wouldn't have been grounded for a month. (By "grounded", I mean, "G-R-O-U-N-D-E-D". No friends. No computer. No cell phone. No iPod. Eventually, no journaling, and no ROOM--because I KEPT messing up. All because I thought my parents were "MURDERERS OF LOVE!!" [for Caleb. ;)]) What I failed to realize is that if I was REALLY "in love" with the dude, my parents wouldn't have been opposed to it...I CERTAINLY wouldn't have lied to everyone about it...and more importantly, we would still be "in love" five months later((see next few blogs)).

Now what was the point of that? Exactly what I just said. During that whole time, I had to convince myself that I was happy. Guys, it was TIRING. Every time I opened my mouth, I had to make sure that I was being consistent with my other lies. Needless to say, I was NOT in love. (See previous paragraph if you missed those reasons).

Now, that example was pretty good, but it works with other relationships too. When you love someone, you're not gonna be happy with them if you're they're doing something wrong. We always hear that if you love someone, you're willing to do anything for them. That's true. "Anything" includes letting them know they're wrong. That reciprocates. If you're doing something you're not supposed to be doing, if they love you, they'll tell you.

That's how it works. If you love someone, you generally don't let them mess up their lives. Go figure.