Cover Sin With Love May 5, 2014
Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, wasreminded one day of a vicious deed that someone had done to her years before;but she acted as if she had never heard of the incident. “Don’t you rememberit?” her friend asked. “No,” came Barton’s reply, “I distinctly rememberforgetting it.”
The Apostle Peter assumes the need for such an attitudein the church when he writes: “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly,since love covers a multitude of sins.” (1 Pt 4:8) In other words, one biblicalway to deal with sin or someone’s offense against you is simply to forget it.To cover sin with love means you forgive without even being asked.
Covering sin, as Peter describes it, is not condoningor excusing it. It is certainly not filing it away for later. The options heoffers are 1) to let love cover and forget about it or 2) to seekreconciliation through confrontation. There is no “do nothing about it but staymad.” If you can’t truly let it go and let love cover it, you have to confrontit. But if you can, you should cover it with love.
Covering sin with love is not passive. It’s notsomething that happens by accident. It looks passive on the outsidebecause you act as though nothing has occurred. But deep inside, you areengaged in an active process of refusing to hold a grudge or refusing to recallan offense, just like Clara Barton.
Why is this so important in the Christian community?Because offenses have a way of escalating, spiraling downward. What wasoriginally a relatively small thing can get blown out of proportion by bothpeople involved. But when you simply ignore the unkind act or thoughtless word,you bring the cycle of evil to an end and the issue dies.
Don’t miss Peter’s reason for covering it: LOVE. Notconvenience. Not fear of confrontation. Fervent love. Costly love. Peter saysit emphatically: “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly.”The phrase “above all” is significant. Apparently, Peter believes that a churchcan lack many virtues, but without sin-covering love, that church might notsurvive.