Verse of the Day 10/29

 

1 Peter 4:8  Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.  English Standard Version (ESV)

 

Our men's small group studied this passage yesterday.   We started with a "warm up question" - "Imagine that the world is going to end in twenty-four hours and you have been granted one wish for anything you want. What would you wish for? Why? ".  This led to a good discussion.  We talked about "bucket lists" and how most of them had to do with things that people want for themselves, "I always wanted to do...."

 

As I thought of this question I thought of my son Jeff.  If I could have one wish, it would be for him to be healed for that day to experience life again without the pain and limitations knowing that he would use that time to show his love for God and for others.  I'm sure that many of you would wish and pray for the salvation of a loved one.  To experience that last day with the weight of sin removed, to experience the love of Christ, experience the forgiveness and the joy that comes with it.

 

We may not have that wish, but we can live each day loving one another "earnestly" and in so doing bringing God's kingdom a little closer.  In his commentary on this verse John MacArthur writes, "Earnestly means to be stretched, to be strained.  It is used of a runner who is moving at maximum output with taut muscles straining and stretching to the limit.  This kind of love requires the Christian to put another's spiritual good ahead of his own desires in spite of being treated unkindly, ungraciously, or even with hostility."  This stretching may involve putting up with or overlooking someone's actions that may irritate or drive us crazy at times, forgiving and disregarding offenses (see below) straining against our will to the greater good, the good of the other person, as if it were the last time you'd have an opportunity to do so.

 

Instead of having a bucket list of things you want to do or places you want to go for your own pleasure, perhaps we should create a different kind of bucket list, thinking of those people that may need your love, your earnest love.   The list may change day to day or month to month, but may we do our best to brighten a day, even if it is for only one day, today, with the goal of hope of a  brighter eternity in the love of Christ.

 

In Christ,
Mike

 

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Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace  NIV

1 Peter 4:7-9

Amplified Bible (AMP)

⁷ But the end and culmination of all things has now come near; keep sound minded and self-restrained and alert therefore for [the practice of] prayer.

⁸ Above all things have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins [forgives and^[a]disregards the offenses of others].

⁹ Practice hospitality to one another (those of the household of faith). [Be hospitable, be a lover of strangers, with brotherly affection for the unknown guests, the foreigners, the poor, and all others who come your way who are of Christ's body.] And [in each instance] do it ungrudgingly (cordially and graciously, without complaining but as representing Him).