Love is Greater than Wrongs
This is a Valentine’s day message about how hard it is for those who are in love, or living life in very close proximity together, to not keep a record of wrongs. “You always” or “you never” or “how many times do I have to tell you” are all signs that we are keeping records of wrongs. God describes himself as someone who is slow to anger, abounding in love; doesn’t harbour anger forever or treat us as our sins deserve. In fact he is someone who has removed our sins so far from us that when he sees us, he doesn’t see our sin. That’s what it means to not keep a record. This description of love (specifically, and the passage as a whole) was both so counter-cultural but also impossible to do (unpack what is natural, instinctive for us and how it’s opposite to these things; the “laws” of our culture). Paul’s reference point is not the culture; he (they) had a new reference point forever – it was God, revealed in Jesus. Paul himself – how Jesus would have seen him (not as a murderer)