Daily Manna · Day 297 · October 24
Fervent Love Covers Sin
“And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.”
Snow over a ploughed field. The ruts are still there under it. Nothing has been filled in, and everybody standing at the gate knows exactly what is underneath.
That is the covering Peter means, and it is worth bounding carefully, because this verse has been made to do terrible work. It does not say conceal. It does not say a congregation should hide what a person is doing to other people, and it has been quoted to keep victims quiet by men who knew better. It does not say the offence stops mattering, and it does not say you may never raise it with the person who committed it. Peter is quoting Proverbs, where the line sits opposite its true contrast: hatred stirreth up strifes, but love covereth all sins. The opposite of covering is not confronting. It is stirring, spreading, keeping the thing in circulation because repeating it is satisfying.
And notice where he puts it. Above all things have fervent charity among yourselves. Fervent is a straining word, the effort of someone stretched out at full extension. This is not the easy tolerance of people who were never bothered. It is the deliberate refusal to publish an offence you are still feeling.
A congregation full of covered offences is not a congregation of impressive people. It is a place where flawed people can stay long enough to change.
So which is it for the thing you are carrying about someone this week: are you covering it, or are you keeping it warm?
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 297 is The Impossible Thing (Matthew 19:26).