A couple of weeks ago, I wrote on the benefits of reading 1 Corinthians 13. It is not a theologically hard chapter to understand but I could spend many hours, days even, contemplating those lessons and come away with a greater sense of what love is and my need of Christ to achieve that level of love. My prayer this morning included a plea for Jesus to become part of me, to change my character so I can exhibit love the way this chapter describes. Love begins in the mind, not the heart (Jeremiah 17:9). I’m sure you’ve seen those little statues that are often monkeys where one covers his eyes, another its ears, and another its mouth representing the see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil philosophy. Those are all symptoms of the real problem. We need one that represents think no evil for the apostle Paul tells us that love “thinks no evil” (1 Corinthians 13:5d). If we didn’t have evil thoughts we would never say anything evil or desire to listen or see evil things. Now of course that doesn’t rule out hearing or seeing something accidentally but what I’m talking about is intentional.
Do we ever have evil thoughts that are intentional? Sunday I drove over to Highland to visit with my parents and grandparents. A great number of vehicles went by me going the opposite way but not much was ever in front of me. Then when I rounded the first mountain I got behind someone in a pickup with a load of wood. The truck bed was sagging so I knew the load was heavy. The truck went very slowly up the mountain and not terribly fast on the way down. At the first straight stretch two other vehicles were coming so I didn’t have a chance to pass. Then on the next mountain, which is a much easier drive, the truck picked up speed. So much so that when we got to the next passing zone heading up the next mountain it was so far ahead of me that I didn’t even try to pass. Then we slowed to about 25 as we ascended. I learned a long time ago that passing people doesn’t generally get you where you’re going all that much faster. When I would drive from Monterey to Blue Ridge Community College I would get impatient and pass anyone in front of me whenever I could. Then I would pull off at Jake Flat’s gas station to fill up and in about five minutes everyone I passed would come rolling by. How much extra gas did I burn and mental anxiety did I produce getting worked up over the “need” to pass all those people when what did it save me? Maybe 5 minutes? So I gave up the thought of passing the wood laden truck realizing not only was I not in a hurry but it wouldn’t save me that much time anyway. Then a thought struck me… maybe it’s not about me. Maybe the person driving that truck was late and whomever was receiving the wood didn’t have any heat or maybe the truck was borrowed and they needed to return it as soon as possible. Who knows why the truck was driving without concern for me. And in truth that’s what I was doing too; I was intentionally thinking of me.
What does it mean to “think no evil?” That question and answer could probably fill a book all on its own. So we’ll just focus on a small piece. Is it evil to put myself first in my own thoughts? Well I certainly think it is natural to do so. But once our thoughts stray from Jesus then we become skewed putting ourselves first instead of Him. Maybe I should have asked myself, “Would Jesus be upset being behind this slow truck?” On my drive over, I was listening to an audio Bible and while I was focusing on the words I was not irritated by the truck. Only when I quit listening did I think about how much faster I could go if I wasn’t behind something so slow. Of course the same effect would happen regardless of what you are listening to but perhaps listening to scripture brought to my mind how selfish I was being instead of increasing my agitation. Jesus told us that the second greatest commandment is to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39b). And He goes even further to say we should love our enemies (Matthew 5:44a). Maybe the truck was in front of me to encourage me to think more deeply about the wisdom of God and the state of my heart. I don’t think wishing to be out from behind a slow vehicle is evil but when the problem persists being content where we are and turning our thoughts to positive instead of negative will have a much more beneficial effect on ourselves and our relationship with God than anything negative ever could. Evil can lurk where we least expect it. If we allow Christ to influence our characters, we will find our thoughts guided toward His mission of love no matter the circumstances. Lord, I pray you would help us all to have Your love that thinks no evil.