Proverbs 10:12 “Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs.”
Jesus was asked, “What is the greatest commandment?” Jesus’ response was very simple, “Love the Lord your God with your whole heart, mind, and soul and love your neighbor as yourself.” So now I ask myself, what does He say love looks like? His response is, love is patient, love is kind, does not envy, does not boast; it is not proud, does not dishonor others. It is not self-seeking, is not easily angered, keeps no record of wrong.
1 Corinthians 13: 1-3, Paul makes it very clear what the true mark of a Christian is. It has nothing to do with all the spiritual gifts we have or the good works we do. "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing." Paul also doesn’t stipulate when we are to love. I think it is quite clear it is one of the greatest commandments. We are to love others always, just as we are to love the Lord always. We don’t get to tap out when things are not going as planned, like the loss of a child or a pandemic or a nation in strife. Yet I know during these times fuses are short and tempers flare and many hurtful remarks are made. We have the Lord’s word that love will cover all wrongs and I am thankful for that. When I reach out in love instead of anger, I can turn to the Lord to cover my injured heart with His bandage of love and to begin to heal not only myself but maybe the one who hurt me.
So I ask myself, “How am I doing?” If I am honest and I look at what love is, I fall way short in Paul’s description of love. I have much work to do. I have been given so much in my life, and to whom much is given much is expected. Thank God, He is in my midst. He is in the midst of all people whether they are believers or not. I need to have God’s perspective on all of His people. Jesus didn’t spend most of His time with kings and queens or those who had power over others. He actually spent His time with the broken, the marginalized, the overlooked, and the diseased.
Lord, I pray I am not a clanging cymbal. When I fall short, and all else fails, Your love covers all my wrongs.
