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Love Covers
LOVE COVERS
God was so angry with Mankind that He was ready to drown them all. But Noah caught His eye and stayed His hand from utter destruction. For Noah lived his life in such a righteous manner God chose to save him and his immediate family from the global deluge. Several years after Noah and his family emerged from the ark, Noah the patriarch got drunk. Not just tipsy but he had passed out in his tent naked and exposed. Ham, his youngest son, discovered the fact, went outside and in a mocking and derisive manner told his brothers. The elder sons Shem and Japheth had an opposite reaction. Mortified by the situation, they placed a covering over their shoulders and backed into the tent, thereby providing cover for their father’s shame, without they themselves being further exposed to it. Love Covers.
Had this episode happened in the 21st Century Christian Church the result may have been different. No doubt it would have started with, honey did you hear about Noah? With mocking, and more than a little self-righteousness indignation, the story would have eventually made it to the nightly news, Another Patriarch Found in Scandal. Taking great delight in sharing all the details ample fodder would have been furnished to the internet forums, magazines and rumor mills. After all it is not really gossip if it’s true, right? Love Covers.
The majority of modern Christians have bought into a Jerry Springer mentality, that every weakness, every foible, should be placed on display for the public’s amusement. After all, we have a “right” to know don’t we? Love Covers.
Paul spent entire chapters in Romans on the folly of passing judgment on your brother. No, Christians are not to be blind to the faults and even sins of others, the issue is what to do when such knowledge comes to light. The “judgment” which Paul warned of is more than mere recognition that a brother or sister has fallen, but rather it is observation combined with condemnation. True Christianity is not about condemnation, it is about restoration, be it a sinner still separated from God, or a fallen brother. It is an oft-repeated truism that the Christian Army is the only one which destroys and devours its own wounded. Love Covers.
How can any sinner ever hope to come “just as I am” to a church filled with those who revel in the fall of their own brothers and sisters? All the talk about wanting to return to first century church values is meaningless without understanding its core; agape (the selfless and pure love of Christ). Agape never says, did you hear about, but rather, how can I help? Standards of holiness, signs, wonders, and miracles are mockeries of Jesus’ sacrifice unless they are built on the foundation of love. Love covers.
Gossiping, backbiting, murmuring, complaining, and causing division are among the things God has stated time after time that He hates. The scriptural attitude when seeing one fallen is pray for, lift up, and unconditionally love them. Love covers.
There was time when all of us were naked and ashamed like Noah, but Christ covered us in His blood and with His love. Love Covers.
If growth as an individual and growth as a church are the goals, then make sure there is first mastery of the gospel and epistles of John, as well as Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. The words of Jesus Christ echo down through the centuries, “By this shall all men know you are my disciples by your love one to another”. We live in age of miracles, an age of mega churches, and yet until we truly regain the spirit of love and restoration, we merely attract crowds. Christians are charged with reaching the world with the gospel, but our methodology is not jihad, or debate, or legislation, it is love. Love covers.
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