Love covers a multitude of sin
By Bibi Babatunde-Ikotun and Oluwatoyosi Adegunle
Thank you for showing interest in knowing about love. Sincerely glad you're here! In the past weeks, we've been exposing you to different aspects of love, because the love of God is wide, deep, interesting and strong that you can't entirely understand it in a day, week or month, but by constantly learning from God, the scriptures, and great channels like this.
We covered many aspects of love for believers of Jesus Christ. We started with Love is nature, not a feeling or a decision to show that feelings are fickle and our minds can change. Then we talked about Is God's love truly enough which broke down a lot of misconceptions about God's love towards the world, then last week we discussed the opposite of Love is fear, not hate to show us that hatred is a fruit of fear.
1 Peter 4:8 (AMPC) Above all things have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins [forgives and [a]disregards the offenses of others] is a very popular scripture and one of the facets of love.
People often ask " does love truly cover a multitude of sins?", and to be very honest, it does. Love is very spiritual and we can only experience God's kind of love on a spiritual level. Our spirit has received the love of God when we believed (Romans 5:8), we, therefore, can express love easily because we're not relying on our carnal abilities but on the spirit of God. This right here is the love hack! Letting it flow from within, the unending source that lives inside us.
The truth of life is offences will always come. From our life partners, friends, children, colleagues etc. As believers, there's an expectation put on us to forgive, forget, disregard, not hold to heart and let love cover it all. Some days it's tougher to forget than usual because of the kind of relationship we share with the offender. For some people, the most important the person is the harder the hurt while it's the opposite for others. Your hurt is very valid but guess what is more valid than your hurt? The cross of Jesus Christ. Receiving the love of God into your heart daily enables you to forget before it happens especially for those you hold dear to your heart. Letting go of the hurt not only relieves you from the burden of keeping a grudge but it also aids your spiritual growth and further enlarges your capacity to love more and let go. Like Dr. Phil Ransom Bello once said: "Malice keeping is a fruit of a baby Christian".
As usual, there are times where we may think this scripture encourages living a life full of deceit and void of truth. Sometimes, repetitions of wrongs become the order of the day because everyone knows you're a Christian and you'll always forgive and forget. However, this can escalate into resentment unknowing if cases of wrongdoings are not addressed in love. Continuous offences and wrongdoings doesn't help a relationship in any way.
Resentment will keep on building until it's high enough for an outburst that may put a dent in the relationship. It is completely okay to open up to someone about how they hurt you rather than using "love covers a multitude of sins" like a bandaid to avoid having hard conversations.
James 5:16a (AMPC) Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart].
True love is the ability to point out noticeable wrongs in a person without judgement or attacking the person. Love doesn't mean you have to keep quiet about your hurts and let them thrive.
Ephesians 4:15 (AMPC) Rather, let our lives lovingly [a]express truth [in all things, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly]. Enfolded in love, let us grow up in every way and in all things into Him Who is the Head, [even] Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One
Of a truth we are called to be like Christ and live a life of love; however, there's a thin line between accommodating toxic attitudes and living in love, and we must be careful to not cross that line. Love covering multitudes of sin doesn't mean offences shouldn't be addressed in a loving and non-confrontational way, because offences would always occur, but we have to always treat them accordingly and live above them. The end result of using love to cover a multitude of sins is resentment and bitterness, and these things are works of the flesh.
Lastly, please apply wisdom in your choice to address hurt. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you at all times.
Stay in love, express hurts in love, live in love, speak in love - bibilamour04
With love,
Bibi and Toyosi
To hit the nail on the head. Love covers a multitude of imperfections. Its just the understanding that people can make their ways right through the special Grace which comes from God alone. All you have to do is forgive, forget, pray for them and move on.
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