FRIDAY October 13th
1 Peter 4:8-9
‘Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.’
These two verses are a reflection of what relationships should be like among those who are a part of the family of God. We should love one another and be hospitable to one another.
We could give a number of reasons why we should love one another, the first being because it is an instruction that Jesus gave which was re-echoed by the Apostle John in his letters, a second reason would be because we are all a part of the wonderful family of God and I will just suggest a third reason, and it is because we need to love one another earnestly as Peter says, because the world hates us, and as we learn to love each other as we truly should be doing so, we have each other’s backs, for out of genuine love would flow the care and concern we should have for each other as brothers and sisters, and although we may have a closer connection with some than others through whatever reason, we should not love or care just for some in the Church family to the exclusion of others. We should treat each other as equals.
Peter’s letter suggests that out of the mutual love we should have for one another hospitality should be shown, willingly and not grudgingly, now this means initially hospitality in our homes as brothers and sisters, it is interesting what the Hebrew writer says about love and hospitality in 13:1-2 ‘Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares’.
As I have considered these verse I thought of hospitality being extended to more than just being hospitable toward one another within our homes, but of how we can be hospitable in other ways. We can show our love, care and concern for others when in need, when someone needs a hand to do something, even by giving a lift to someone that has difficulty to get to Church because of transport issues.
But what about the little phrase ‘love covers a multitude of sin’, well firstly it doesn’t mean we turn a blind eye, for we should point out a sin if it is detrimental to the spiritual well-being of a brother or sister, I think it has this as its application, that we should not hold grudges against anyone who may have wronged us (sinned us as a person, rather than a sin against God) in the past, for example, a brother or sister may have spoken harshly to us, which at the time hurt us and may have began to cause a rift in the relationship, but genuine love, or as Peter puts it ‘loving one another earnestly’ enables us to look over or past that which hurt us and we get over it and move forward for the sake of unity within the household of God, our love for that person covers over the wrong they have done and loving one another in the same way that God has loved us means we can remain in good relationship with each other.
I introduced a song to the Ladies Fellowship at the beginning of the month which has the line ‘He looked beyond my faults and saw my needs’. We all have faults, following Peter’s instruction, we need to look beyond the faults and see the needs of each other and seek to do all we can in being loving and being hospitable toward one another. This is a part of our Christian duty.