LOVE TAKES NO ACCOUNT OF A SUFFERED WRONG

One time (my wife & I) went to preach for some folks, and we had just enough money to buy gasoline to get to their church. We arrived at the church in time to preach that evening, and after the service we were hungry because we'd been traveling all day with very little to eat. We were staying with the pastor and his wife in their parsonage, so we thought surely they would give us something to eat when we came home after the service. But they didn't take us out to eat after church or give us anything to eat at their house. They just went to bed, so we went to bed hungry. The next morning we got up hungry, but they had already gone. My wife said, "Maybe they went out to get something to fix for breakfast." But they didn't come back. Later she said, "They'll probably come back at lunch and take us out to eat." Well, they didn't come back for lunch either. We didn't have a cent in our pockets because we'd used every bit of our money just to get to that town to preach. Finally, they came in about church time and got ready to go to church. But they never said anything about dinner or about feeding us.

They didn't even ask us if we'd had anything to eat or if we were hungry. It had been a day and a half since we'd eaten anything, and we were hungry. It's one thing when you're fasting and seeking God. Then you expect to deny the flesh! But we weren't fasting. We were just going hungry because there wasn't anything to eat. Then after we finished the church service the second night, we thought they'd probably offer us something to eat, but they never said a word about it. They went to bed, so we went to bed too. We got up the next morning, and they had already left. We thought they would probably come back by noon and take us out to eat or at least give us some food. But they didn't come home. Finally, we went into the kitchen to see if we could find something to eat because by then we were really hungry. We found one shriveled hot dog, one egg, and one stale piece of bread. We fixed the toast, boiled the hot dog, cooked the egg, and we each had a half a piece of toast, a half a hot dog, a half an egg, and a glass of water apiece. I said to my wife, "I know what I'm going to do!" You see, your flesh and your mind can get stirred up when people do you wrong. That's why the Bible says you've got to keep them under subjection to your spirit. I said, "I'm going to call the district superintendent, and ask him, 'What kind of ministers do you have in this district, anyway? We haven't had anything to eat for two days!'" You know, if you're not careful, in a situation like that, your flesh will want to take over. So I went to the phone and started to call the district supervisor, but something on the inside constrained me. It was the love of Christ constraining me……

…..I came back and said to my wife, "I can't do it. I didn't call the district supervisor. Bless their hearts! PEOPLE WHO ACT LIKE THESE PASTORS ARE NOT GOING TO MAKE IT SPIRITUALLY ANYWAY, BUT I'M NOT GOING TO CONTRIBUTE TO THEIR DOWNFALL. I'm not going to be the one to trip them up. "I don't care if they did do me wrong, I've got to walk in love whether they do or not because the Bible says that love worketh no ill to his neighbor." Well, that couple finally came in before church on the third day and never said anything about dinner or even asked us if we were hungry. We went to church, and afterwards they just brought us home and didn't offer to feed us anything. They hadn't even given us an offering so we could buy something to eat. By then, it felt like my stomach was rubbing my back bone! When you go without food for several days, your flesh gets to crying out! I said to my wife again, "I'm going to call the district superintendent and ask him what kind of pastors he has in this district!"

If you go to paying attention to your head and your flesh, you'll get into trouble. I went to the telephone to call him, but again, something on the inside of me wouldn't let me do it. The love of Christ constrained me. I said to my wife, "No, I can't do it. I've got a mind to get in the car tonight when the service is over and just leave. But I couldn't do that either. In the first place, people in the congregation would ask the pastor, 'Where is Brother Hagin?' Then they would wonder why I left, and it would look bad for the pastor." But by the next day, we were hungry! I started to call the district superintendent again, but I just couldn't do it. Instead, I said to my wife, "I can't do it. THESE DEAR ONES, BLESS THEIR DARLING HEARTS, ARE NEVER GOING TO MAKE IT IN THE MINISTRY ACTING THIS WAY. BUT I DON'T WANT TO CONTRIBUTE TO THEIR DOWNFALL. I'll stay through Sunday. I'm going to do right whether these pastors do or not." People who don't have any more character or concern for others than that are never going to make it anywhere, much less in the ministry. In fact, this couple never should have been in the ministry to begin with. BUT I'M NOT GOING TO CONTRIBUTE TO THEIR DOWNFALL, BECAUSE THEN IT WOULD HURT ME SPIRITUALLY. Sooner or later this pastor is going to reap whatever he sowed, but I'm not going to help him reap it. Besides, love worketh no ill to its neighbor. Love takes no account of a suffered wrong. Love—God's love —is longsuffering, patient, and kind.

Finally, one of the church deacons came to visit us, and he began questioning me. I saw that he knew something wasn't right. But I didn't want to hurt the pastor by confiding in one of his own deacons. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. So I did my best not to say anything that would hurt the pastor. The deacon finally said to my wife and me, "Come down to my house." He took us to the back of his house where there was a deep freezer that was full of meat and fresh vegetables. He said to us, "Just take anything you want." We took the food home and fixed it ourselves. That pastor and his wife never did feed us or give us one thing to eat the entire time we were there. They took up an offering every night, but they never gave us any of it, so we couldn't go buy something to eat. Finally the last night of the meeting, they did give us a small offering. I think for the whole week they finally gave us about $43. We were sorely tempted to get out of love, but I couldn't gripe and complain about it. I've got to walk in love if I'm going to stay healthy. I just like it so much better staying well. So my wife and I just put our faith in God. We knew that down the road God would meet our need, so we just went our way… ….

…….What happened to those pastors? Some time later, the district superintendent called me and asked, "Did you preach for those folks?" I told him that I had held a meeting for them at their church. He asked me, "Did you pick up anything in your spirit while you were there?" I didn't have to pick anything up in my spirit! I mean, if nothing else, going all those days without food, my stomach told me something was wrong! He said, "We had to deal with those folks. We just had to simply take that church away from them." I noticed that was the last church that couple ever pastored. The district superintendent had to dismiss them from their fellowship. No one ever heard from them again. In fact, they just disappeared off the scene. We in the Body of Christ need to treat one another with love! Love works no ill to his neighbor! We can't mistreat people and think we can prosper in the things of God. (Kenneth E Hagin)