Love Covers a Multitude

And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves; for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. I Peter 4: 8

I came across this verse this morning and had to laugh. Recently my two sisters and I cleaned our parents’ home for them. My younger sister, Jamie and I had been assigned the living room. After we left, my older sister, Sheri, discovered we’d forgotten the windowsills in that room and sent us a photo. I couldn’t remember the verse, but I pointed out the Bible said love covered a multitude of sin. It was all done in good fun.

But still, it’s true. Is it necessary to point out every time your spouse forgets to put the cap back on the toothpaste or whatever other unimportant thing that pushes your buttons? Is it necessary to point out every wrong thing your child does instead of focusing on the right things? I’m not talking about things you are teaching your child, but instead those nit-picking, nagging trivial things we parents seem to focus on sometimes. Whatever small trivial thing that will not improve the character or knowledge of the other person, will not bring them closer to the Lord, and will not matter a hill of beans in a few minutes one way or the other, overlook it in love and move on.

The situation with my sisters was all joking and teasing. But what if Sheri had really been irritated that we forgot the windowsills? It took her five minutes to clean them. It didn’t matter anymore by the time her visit was over. But if she’d seriously spoken to us about it, it wouldn’t have made us better people, taught us a lesson, brought us closer to the Lord or otherwise edified us. But it would have embarrassed us, made us feel unappreciated for all the hard work we did do, and even irritated us a little. Sometimes, its best to stay quiet. Let love be your guide. Love sometimes requires firm words, and honest words. But many times, our words have no real value and are spoken out of irritation. Let love overcome our desire to speak those kinds of words.