Love Covers A Multitude Of Sins
BRD REFLECTIONS:
(Samuel Tan, PTM for Family Life Ministry)
READ:
1 Peter 4:8 (NIV)
OBSERVE:
1 Peter 4 spoke of how followers of Christ ought to be living for God. This chapter focuses on suffering like Jesus, stewardship, genuine love, and glorifying God in our daily choices.
The verse that spoke to me is 1 Peter 4:8, ‘Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins’ (NIV).
My understanding of this verse is that it is for believers and it is of high priority that we love one another and in doing so, we cover a multitude of sins.
How does loving each other deeply cover a multitude of sins?
Could it be that our love for one another covers a multitude of sins because of our imperfections? As followers of Christ, we are forgiven sinners but not yet sinless. In technical theological terms, we are justified by faith but God is still at work to sanctify us. We are not perfect, but on the way to perfection. We desire to live a Spirit-led life away from sin, but we fail to obey sometimes. We will hurt others and be hurt by others within the faith community.
In 1 Corinthians 13, the Apostle Paul states love for one another entails forgiving one another, keeping no record of past hurts, and being there for one another through the good and bad times. Hence, it will be difficult for sin and bitterness to have roots in a faith community teeming with Christ-like love.
APPLY:
- The radical love this verse calls for requires us to forgive people who have offended us, hurt us, irritated us, and not to retaliate against them. Instead, we are to cover the offense of the hurt or the irritation.
- Love does not dismiss wrongs, but it is willing to forgive and reconcile.
- Love does not magnify faults, seeking to expose and embarrass, but love, on the other hand, seeks to protect and restore.
DO:
- I will continuously seek God to fill me with His love so I can deeply love other brothers and sisters unconditionally in the faith community; yet not I but through Christ in me.
- I will be more willing and courageous to have difficult conversations without magnifying the wrong with fellow believers who hurt me.
- I will seek forgiveness when I become aware through the prompting of the Holy Spirit or I am told of wrongs that I have done to other brothers and sisters in Christ.
PRAY:
Gracious Father, thank You for sending Jesus to pay the price for my sins that I may be forgiven. I am grateful to the many fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who have chosen to love and forgive me even when I have said or done things that hurt them. May I learn to forgive others as You have forgiven me. Most of all, I pray that Wesley Methodist Church will be teeming with Christ-like love, so that the world will know that we are Christ’s disciples. Would You add to our faith community daily those who yearn for radical genuine love. In Your Jesus’ wonderful name, I pray, Amen.
