Love . . . Believes All things 
Joe Slater
	The words in the title (from 1 Corinthians 13:7) used to throw me a curve. Was Paul teaching that, in order to be loving, we must be naive or dense? If someone tells us the moon is made of green cheese, does love require us to believe him?
	The answer becomes clear when we see that Paul’s description of love concerns the way we treat each other. It even extends to the way we think about each other. If we are quick to believe evil about a brother or sister, we are not practicing love. We ought to be anxious to believe what is good, unless the bad thing is proven conclusively.
	For example, suppose you see a sack full of empty beer cans on a brother’s back porch. Further, suppose that you know that before his conversion to Christ, this brother had been a drunkard. Now, you could jump to the conclusion that he has fallen back into worldly ways. But love requires that you “believe all things” (that is, good things) about your brother. Love obligates you to consider other possibilities. Perhaps he is collecting aluminum cans for recycling; or maybe someone rudely tossed the cans into his yard, and he simply cleaned up the unsightly mess.
	If you have ever been on the receiving end of unjust criticism because someone assumed the worst about you, then you should see the wisdom and logic in giving the benefit of the doubt. Jesus said we should treat others as we want to be treated (Luke 6:31). That doesn’t mean turning a blind eye to sin; but it does mean being willing to assume the best until we know otherwise.
	Love does not demand that we put our brains in “park.” It does, however, require that we give one another the benefit of the doubt. Our country’s judicial system is based upon this principle: a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty. If a secular society can apply this principle in civil matters, surely we can do as much for our brothers and sisters in the Lord!
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The Road to Success
The road to success is not straight.
There is a curve called Failure,
A loop called Confusion,
Speed bumps called Friends,
Red lights called Enemies.
You will have flats called Jobs.
But if you have a spare called Determination,
An engine called Perseverance,
Insurance called Faith,
And a driver called Jesus,
You will make it to a place called Success!
--Author Unknown; via House-to-House/Heart-to-Heart

Hold Fast
"But Christ was faithful as a Son over His house - whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end" (Hebrews 3:6).
	Peter echoes this idea that we are God's house.  We are living stones being built up as a spiritual house (I Peter 2:5). God does not live in a tabernacle, a temple, or in any other kind of a physical structure. God lives in His people. In Ephesians 2:11-22 we learn that Jesus is the corner stone and that the foundation is the apostles and prophets. The great temple rising up from the foundation consists of the believers in the Son. Those who have confessed Jesus as Lord and the Son of the Living God and have put the Son on in baptism are the true believers (Galatians 3:27). We are united with the Son through our belief and baptism.
	However, there is an "if" to the statement in Hebrews 3:6. We are told that we must hold fast our confidence, our trust in our Savior and the boast or rejoicing of our hope in Jesus until the end.  This can be a hard battle. The world pulls us to a life of satisfying our individual wants and to a life of ease and postponements. After all, there is always tomorrow to change.  Our families also may seek to pull us away from Jesus.
	It is not enough to begin and then slack off. The Spirit in Hebrews 3:6 tells us that we must hold fast until the end. Saving faith depends on the steadfastness of our devotion. How firm is our faith in all of life's trials, big and little? Saving faith also depends on our continued trust in the Lord and His promises.  Heaven is too wonderful, too marvelous to toss away by being less than firm in our trust and devotion.
	So hold fast!
		--Ed Wittlif (Denver, CO)