Everyone loves a good story. We read books, go to the movies, and binge-watch countless hours of streaming shows all because we like to be entertained by comedy and intense drama. We also like to tell stories. It is an amazing feeling when someone is hanging on your every word, just waiting for you to get to the end. This affinity for telling and hearing stories is hardwired into us by God because he is a storyteller. Roughly two-thirds of the Bible is narrative and contains the greatest story ever told, the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and rose again so that we might live in heaven for all eternity! However, there is a problem.

The Problem Is We Love Sinful Stories

As with all good things, our ability for storytelling and our love for story listening has been tainted by sin. Sadly, we have all experienced the pain of people telling and listening to stories about us that were either untrue or not something that anyone had a right to know. But if we are honest, we must admit that we, too, have engaged in the sinful hearing and passing on stories that were either false or none of our business. We do love stories, but the sad reality is that we are drawn to sinful stories most.

This exposes a problem in our hearts that we are so bent toward sin that we desire to hear and tell about the sins of others. Not only are we tempted to sin ourselves, but we are tempted to enjoy news of someone else’s sin and to pass on that news, whether it’s on social media, the nightly news, or the church hallways. Part of the reason why this is so sinful is because this knowing and telling feeds our pride and makes us believe that we are more important than we really are. Fortunately, the Bible has the answer to this wicked practice.

Biblical Love Means Believing the Best

First Corinthians 13 is known as the love chapter, where we find fifteen descriptions that teach us what love does rather than what love is. Paul desires to emphasize the active nature of love by using a word (agape) that does not focus on emotion but rather entails having intentional positive regard for and practicing goodwill toward another regardless of personal benefit. This love is not about how we feel but instead is about the good we bring to someone else, and this others-focused benevolence guides our understanding of Paul’s instruction.

We see this, especially when we get to verse 7, where in rapid-fire succession, Paul gives four qualities of love and what it looks like to put this goodwill into action when he says, “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” These comprehensive statements make the point that biblical love encompasses everything that is good and right and which fits within God’s plan and purposes. To love biblically is to desire and act in a way that is both pleasing to God and brings about good for others with no thought of ill will toward them.

First Paul says, “Love bears all things.” This means that love covers and protects the one who is loved. Going a step further, when it comes to sin, it is to say that love bears with by covering the sin and weaknesses of others. This does not mean that sin is tolerated or excused but that a person is covered and thus protected from needless exposure and harm. To love is to wisely keep the circle as small as possible.

Second, love “believes all things,” meaning that to love is to believe the best and give the benefit of the doubt. Agape love is devoid of cynicism, thus to love well is to trust in the genuine intentions of others until the facts prove otherwise. In that sense, love is similar to our criminal justice system in that a person is innocent until proven guilty.

Next, love “hopes all things.” Hope is that strong, forward-looking, optimistic expectation that some good will come in the future. Our hope is ultimately found in the gospel, both eternally and temporally. In a temporal sense, our gospel hope is found in the moment-by-moment work of Christ, who is working all things out according to his perfect will (Ephesians 1:9), even in the midst of sin and suffering. As one pastor puts it, “As long as God’s grace is still operative, human failure is never final.”

Last, love “endures all things.” This is a military term used to describe an army courageously and tirelessly holding fast to their position. Loving endurance clings tightly to the command to love God and to love our neighbors, refusing to let go. It is a resolute commitment to bear with, think well of, and hope for everything good and godly to happen to another person for the glory of God.

Believing the Best in Action

What does this look like in action? Let me give you two examples, one negative and one positive.

I once spoke with a couple who were trying to figure out what to do for the holidays. The husband made the suggestion, “How about we go to my father’s for Thanksgiving?” to which the wife responded, “You don’t like my mother?” At that moment, the wife was not thinking the best about her husband but instead had an ill-will toward him, accusing him of bad intentions, which led to a needless conflict.

One positive example comes from a friend of mine who was in a conversation with another man who started to tell a story about someone else in the church. My friend wisely and graciously said, “What you are saying does not sound like something that other person would do, so I am asking you to stop telling that story because it does not sound quite right.”

What a great example of what it looks like to believe the best until the facts prove otherwise. My friend showed that he was not interested in hearing a false story, nor did he want the other person to continue to spread false information and instead encouraged biblical love.

We all love a good story, and we love to tell good stories. May the words of Paul guide us to be willing to put an end to the spread of stories that are false and tear down while at the same time telling and listening to stories that are good and godly.