Believing the Best

“Are you expecting the worst or believing the best about your husband?”

 

Hmmm?

 

I confess, at the time I most definitely expected the worst from my husband. He’d say, “I’ll be home at 6” and I knew it’d be later. He’d say, “I’ll call you back in a few minutes” and I knew he’d get caught up. He’d say “I’ll get off of the computer soon” and I knew an hour would pass.

 

Bitterness and resentment became my best friends and love took a cold back seat.

 

There’s a massive contrast when you view things in the flesh and then catch a glimpse of them through God’s eyes.

 

God used that sermon and that question to make me painfully aware of the error in my thinking. And I became far less interested in what my husband did wrong. I had gotten into the bad habit of expecting my husband to let me down and in return I offered no grace, no understanding… and no love.

 

The greatest commandment is to Love. It’s not always easy, true. However, God is in the habit of giving us just the help we need.

And in the Amplified version of 1 Corinthians 13:7 sits that very help that allows us to love no matter what…

“Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, 
is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are 
fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures 
everything [without weakening].”

 

That says that Love believes the best about every person… not just our spouses, but our friends and even strangers.

 

So, if we apply these God-given truths to our relationships then we are freed up to simply love.

 

Believing the best about people is a choice. It doesn’t depend on circumstances… how a person behaves, what they say or don’t say… it just believes… it just loves.

 

Before I expected the worst from my husband and from most people and it was also, always about me. How upset I was. How wronged I felt. How my expectations weren’t met. And because of that I spent much time in mental torment.

 

Now, I am in the habit of believing the best and not only do I have internal peace, but I give out grace with ease and I love better than ever before.

 

What about you? Are you believing the best?