Day 57 - 90 Days in Proverbs - Covered up
Proverbs 10:12 [ESV] Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses. [NKJV] …love covers all sins.
Certainly, as a Christian, I count on the love of God to forgive my sins. I count on sacrificial blood of Jesus to cover my sin. Don’t you? I gratefully accept that covering, offered to me for every sin and offense I commit, and I seek it every day.
We know that this covering of sin by the sacrificial blood of Jesus is available to anyone who trusts in the Lord to provide it, who confesses their sins and asks for forgiveness. Like Job, we may also be the kind of loving parents who ask for forgiveness for unbelieving children until they day they become obedient believers too.
The Bible shows us that Love comes with a lot of responsibility.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 [NKJV] tells us 4 Love suffers long [and] is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
I am so thankful that our Father God lives up to all those responsibilities and attributes of love. However, God of love is not the only one with the responsibilities to live up to what is outlined in 1 Corinthians 13. It is not God alone who is required to cover sin, to rejoice in truth, to bear all things.
We, His children, are also required to suffer long and be kind, to put off envy, to refuse to think evil and so forth. Our love for our families, friends, neighbors, fellow man and even our enemies should shine in this world because of the actions associated with that love – actions that are outlined in 1 Corinthians 13.
It is one thing to say “I love you” and entirely another to put into practice a love that covers a multitude of offenses – not just one, but all of them. Proverbs 10:12 reminds me of the exchange between Peter and Jesus that we find in Matthew 18:21-22 [NKJV] 21 Then Peter came to Him and said, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" 22 Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.”
It takes the power of the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit to perform that kind of love – to produce that long-term, recurring forgiveness and covering of sin. It’s okay if you have to labor long in prayer to find it within you to forgive that 490th time, so long as you do seek the power to forgive again.
You should know, sweet sisters, that God will not be stingy in providing you with the power to forgive again. John 7:38-39 [NKJV] 38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive...
God will give us a river of Holy Spirit to help His love flow out from us to the world around, including a love that will forgive and cover any offenses against us. Not a trickle; not a light rain, but a raging river of love. I don’t know about you, but there have been incidences in my life that required a river of the Holy Spirit in order to work my way toward forgiveness. I hope I have never been a person who required and will never be a person who requires another believer to cry out for a river of love to deal with me.
But I will confess that I know that God has covered my sins time after time – more than 70 x 7 – and I count on His continued forgiveness every day. Because I count on His forgiveness, I pray for that river of love to cover all sins and offenses directed toward me. Because I count on His forgiveness, I am committed to 70 x 7 for anyone who sins against me as well. It is the least I can do.
The Father asks us to forgive 70 x 7 and to be willing to, in love, cover a multitude of sins. It’s the least we can do, given His forgiveness of us and given the sacrifice Jesus made for us.
Prayer — Thank you, Father God, that you cover my sins always, whenever I cry out to you because of Your great love and because of the covering blood of Jesus. Help me to quickly and repeatedly forgive others when they commit offenses against me. Send me Your Spirit as a river of living water so that I always imitate you and cover others with Your love flowing from me. In Jesus’ name I ask. Amen.
Your thoughts —
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