1 Peter 4:8 AMPC
[8] Above all things have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins [forgives and disregards the offenses of others].
As you read the verse above which seeks to point our attention to a particular standard, I note the requirement to do certain things, as proof of my new relationship with Christ. This is an interesting part of my walk of faith, and it has to do with the public manifestation of my private convictions. Usually, there would be no public witnesses to my conviction that I need Christ in my life, and I would usually go out as an altar call or in my private room, and declare my acceptance of Jesus as my Lord and personal Saviour. At that point, my life then becomes the template for the display of the benefits and lifestyle of that decision I made. I can no longer claim affinity or any close connection with the old standards, as I now have the person and enablement that gives grace to live right. Again, it has to be emphasized that God will not demand from me that which He has not first supplied grace for.
When I read the words 'above all', I cast my eye on the verse just before, which says: "But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer". This verse here is like a condition precedent to the verse that is our devotion today. It is a call to a life of accountability, where I know what i am getting into, and I am willing to pay the price to make it work. It is only in soberness that a man can see clearly what God is saying to him, and what the right course of action is at every point in time. It is only in soberness that a man can clearly hear what God is saying per time. The world is too complex for anyone to try and navigate without divine help. The world seeks to eat me up but God seeks to establish and uphold me. I am safer in and with Him that with any other person or resource. When I am in Him, then my life can align with the rest of the verse above, as well as the condition precedent already laid out above.
Try as much as you can, it is not given to mortal man to naturally align with God's commands. You need help, and that help can only be activated when a man is connected to the Help that cannot be defeated, and cannot also be exhausted. Love is one of those standards that God has laid down, and it is only by the help of the One called LOVE that I can also love other people. I cannot put love on top of the fruit of the flesh; God's version of love cannot live in and proceed out of a heart that God does not inhabit. In the first place, I received love, which dealt with the root of sin in me. It means that if I will love the right way, the journey starts with my responding the right way to the love that has been offered to me. My sin has been dealt with permanently; I have been set free from the limits of sin and self; I have a heart that God has touched and changed, and can now respond the right way to the world around me. Does this also describe you? God's time of favour is here.
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