Love From the Heart

Because the end of all things is at hand, 1 Peter 4:8 tells believers to be sober, watchful in prayer and have fervent love among ourselves because "love covers the multitude of sins."  Love keeps no record of wrongs and thus does not view others through the lens of prior offence, even when someone has done or said offensive things.  The love of God guides us to forgive one another without keeping track of all the times we have forgiven them.  We are enabled to love one another because God's love is abundantly provided by the Holy Spirit God has given us.  Christians are to be known for their love for one another that is demonstrated by more than words or feelings.

Recently we had a built in closet installed in our house, and having observed builders over the years I have arrived at a maxim that is similar to what Peter said in his epistle:  "Builder's bog and caulk covers a multitude of flaws."  I would even say butchery, but I do not want to malign that honourable profession that supplies quality meat for consumption.  I also do not want to paint a bad picture of hard-working tradies either, but the reliance upon covering up problems rather than doing things right has been a common observation of mine.  When the work is completed at first glance everything seems fine, but upon closer inspection the defects seem to multiply.

For instance, I discovered a bit of skirting that had been cut out had been caulked back into position--after neglecting to remove the nail!  Apparently there are those who use painter's caulk as glue, and the unsightly problem created was worse than doing the job correctly from the start.  Attached are a couple of pictures to illustrate what the caulk concealed.  What I overlooked because it was inside the closet looked ugly when I took a closer look, and it looked even uglier when brought into the light.

When the prophet Samuel was quite taken with the regal appearance of Eliab, God explained a truth we can relate to the concealed skirting in 1 Samuel 16:7:  "But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."  We look on the outside, but God looks at the heart.  We can cover over bitterness, grudges and unforgiveness with polite manners and smiles, yet we cannot ever fool God (or even people at times!).  Moses told God's people when they sinned against the LORD they could be sure their sin would find them out (Numbers 32:23), and our attempts to conceal our sin of refusal to love and our lack of grace will fail.  Praise the LORD He can create in us a clean heart by the power of the Holy Spirit, for Jesus works in us to make all things new.