Proverbs 10:12. Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.
Two very different ways of approaching relationships are contrasted here.
The hater constantly stirs up strife and arguments. Why? The Epistle of James tells us that quarrels, fights, and strife come from the warring passions within us. Usually we hate others because we hate something about ourselves, something we can’t resolve internally. The result? We try to make others look worse than us. We expose their weaknesses, their failures, their sins, in an attempt to make them look bad. Why do we do this? Again, because of hate. Hatred of ourselves if not hatred of others. Strife isn’t caused simply by disagreements we have about principles and policies. We can disagree on many things without strife. Strife is caused by hate.
The lover, in contrast, covers over offenses. Love here is not a feeling, in fact, all the feelings of love have likely been drained by the offense. Rather, love here is a choice. A choice to do good to your offender. A choice to forgive the offense and not keep a record of wrongdoing. A choice to paint the offender in the best possible light. This is the true agape love that is ours to give in Christ. Not love that excuses sin, but love that covers over sin with grace and kindness.
Do you want to eliminate sin in your church community? Your family? Your friendships? Then love. As Martin Luther King Jr. reminded us, hate can never drive out hate, only love can do that. Only love given and received can heal the heart of both the offender and the offended.
By the cross of Christ, God has chosen to cover up all our offenses against him. He offers us forgiveness that removes all our guilt. In Christ, our sins will never be mentioned by God again. There is no strife between us and God if we have Jesus dwelling in our hearts. Now we can live without strife with others too. We can love earnestly and from a pure heart, loving them as Christ loves us, covering offenses with grace and mercy just as God has covered over ours with the blood of Jesus.
1 Peter 4:8. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
But what about justice, you ask. Don’t sins need to be confronted, called out, corrected? Sometimes, yes they do. But often it is the response of love and forgiveness that will call out the sin in another person’s heart. Just as it was the kindness of God that brought you to repentance, so too it will be your kindness toward your offender that will wake them up to their sin as the Spirit leads. It is acts of kindness in response to sin that heaps burning coals on the head of your offender. This too is justice.
Romans 12:20. 20“if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
You: What strife are you caught up in? Can you see self-hatred as the cause?
You in Christ: How does knowing that our sins are not held against us help you to not hold sins against others?
Christ in you: Is there an offense that you need to CHOOSE to forgive and cover today?How can you respond with kindness?
Pray: Father, you have covered all my sins with the blood of your son. Help me to forgive others, reject strife, and seek to love others by not keeping a record of wrongs. Amen.
To Live is Christ 