“Above all, keep
loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”
(1 Peter 4:8 ESV)
We’ve all heard the adage: “Love is blind.”
What’s meant by this is that, when people are in love, they don’t see one
another’s faults. It’s as if they’re blind to them.
People who’ve been married for some time often
use this phrase as a form of ridicule. We laugh at those who’ve recently fallen
into love believing them to be naïve. We laugh at young love knowing that both
people in the relationship are overlooking the flaws in the object of their affection.
We laugh knowing that, one day, those flaws will become apparent. We laugh
knowing that they aren’t entering into the relationship logically.
We assume that, if they saw the flaws in their
partner, they would likely rethink the relationship. We assume that, if they
saw these flaws, they may even break off the relationship. We believe that, if
they understood what they were getting into, they would end the relationship
before it even began.
We’ll never find the perfect person with whom
to enter into a relationship. Everyone with whom we fall in love is flawed. I’ve
often told couples that, if they end their current relationship in favor of
another, they will only trade ten problems for ten new problems. We’re all
sinners, after all.
Yet, as much as we scoff at young love because
it is blind, this is what Peter is calling us to in the above verse. He’s not
addressing romantic love, in this passage, although his words can apply to it.
He’s primarily addressing our relationships with one another.
He encourages us, as believers, to love one
another earnestly. Our love for one another is to be sincere. It’s to be
zealous. And we’re to love one another in this way because love covers over a
multitude of sins.
Peter is saying that, if we love one another
in this way, their sins will be hidden from our sight. We’ll be blind to them. If
we love others, we won’t be intently searching out their flaws. If we love
others, we’ll assume the best about them. And if we love others, rather than
exposing their sin, we’ll do what we can to help them deal with it.
Hate does the exact opposite. It intentionally
seeks out the sin in others. It assumes the worst about them. And it does so
that it might make public their shortcomings.
As faithful as we believe ourselves to be,
this is how we often live with each other. We live not in a spirit of love, but
hate. We seek only to hide our sin while, at the same time, we expose the
trespasses of others.
May we repent of this attitude. And may we
live as Peter calls us. May we love one another earnestly. And may we do so
knowing that, in this way, we’re covering over a host of sins.
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