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1 Peter 4:8<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.”<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n Truth to Learn<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Love means forgetting your own pain in order to help a brother or sister grow in grace.<\/p>\n Behind the Words<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n The expression \u201cabove all things<\/span>\u201d is translated from the Greek words pro pant\u014dn<\/span><\/em>. The word pro<\/span><\/em> means \u201cbefore.\u201d It can refer to place, time, or importance. In this case, it refers to importance. The word pant\u014dn<\/span><\/em> means \u201call things.\u201d Hence, Peter is literally saying \u201cbefore all things,\u201d that is, having more importance than all other things.<\/p>\n \u201cLove<\/span>\u201d is translated from agap\u0113<\/span><\/em>, which in fact does mean \u201clove.\u201d But it is only one of several Greek words that are translated that way. The best way to describe this type of love is that it is the kind of love which is more concerned about the well being of the loved one than of self.<\/p>\n The word \u201cfervent<\/span>\u201d is from the Greek word ekten\u0113s<\/span><\/em>, which literally means \u201cstretched out.\u201d As used here it means \u201ccontinual or intense.\u201d<\/p>\n The word translated \u201ccover<\/span>\u201d is kalupt\u014d<\/span><\/em>, which means \u201cto hide or cover.\u201d The opposite of this is the Greek word apokalupt\u014d<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cto uncover\u201d or \u201cto reveal\u201d from which we get our English word apocalypse.<\/p>\n Meaning Explained<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Since we know that our time is short, as stated in the previous verse, we need to be serious and dedicate ourselves to prayer. But, Peter tells us in this verse, of greater importance than even these things, we need to have fervent love for one another. Since Peter is writing this letter to Christians (1Peter 1:1, 2<\/span><\/strong>), it means that we are to love our fellow Christians with a self-sacrificing love, being more concerned for their well-being than our own. <\/span>But it\u2019s not just love, it\u2019s \u201cfervent love\u201d that we are to have for one another.<\/p>\n Why are we commanded to have fervent love for each other? Peter says it\u2019s because love covers (or hides) a multitude of sins. This is not to say that we are to ignore the sins of a brother or sister. It means that we are to love each other this way so that we will be gracious and forgiving of each other\u2019s faults. We need to be more concerned about the well-being of our Christian brothers and sisters than our own selfish motives and feelings. If a brother of sister is living in sin, we have a responsibility to approach him or her in a loving (agap\u0113<\/span><\/em>) manner with his or her ultimate good in mind. It also means that when a brother or sister sins against us, we need to be more concerned for their spiritual well-being than our own bruised selfish pride. Again, it doesn\u2019t mean that we ignore the offense; rather, it means that we approach the offender in a loving (agap\u0113<\/span><\/em>) way to let him or her know that they injured us, having already forgiven them and freed them of any blame.<\/p>\n Keep in mind that love is an action verb, not just a feeling. In light of what Peter just told us in the previous verse (\u201cthe end is near\u201d and \u201cbe watchful in prayer\u201d), we should consistently demonstrate fervent love to our Christian brothers and sisters.<\/p>\n Application<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n When we approach a Christian brother or sister who is living in sin or who has offended us, we need to do it while standing in their shoes. We need to confront them lovingly the way we would want someone to treat us if the tables were turned.<\/p>\n In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 2009 <\/span>Will <\/span>Krause. All rights reserved.<\/span><\/p>\n – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n <\/span>If this message or this link was forwarded to you by a friend and you wish to receive future verses directly to your inbox, you can call the church phone <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 1 Peter 4:8 And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” Truth to Learn Love means forgetting your own pain in order to help a brother or sister grow in grace. Behind the Words The expression \u201cabove all things\u201d is translated from the Greek words […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[126,127,128],"class_list":["post-720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-fervent-love","tag-forgiveness","tag-sins"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-bC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"signature\"](\"\/signature.gif\")
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