DAILY DEVOTIONAL – August 26, 2019
“All Covered Up”
Prayer: Our most gracious and forgiving God, you call us to love with the same love with which You loved us; dying on a cross for our sins. We admit Lord, we cannot love like You without You. Keep us ever close to You and Your Word so that by the power of Your Holy Spirit we can deny ourselves and love even those who hurt us and sin against us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Scripture: 1 Peter 4:7-8
7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
Devotion – “Paying it Forward”
Peter doesn’t mince words much at all here does he? “7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”
Peter says to be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. God of course hears all prayer, even our prayers that are misguided by sin and selfish, and God has promised to answer our prayers. Peter cautions us to stay in control and focused on God’s Word and will, not ours, so that we are not deafened by our own sinful passions but instead have our full attention focused on God and are able to hear God’s answer.
Peter also says above all else, meaning more important than anything else, love one another earnestly and genuinely because love covers a multitude of sins. By no means is Peter suggesting that more of our sins are overlooked by God the more we love other people. What Peter is saying is that the love Christ has given us in His perfect sacrifice, the same love He calls us to have for those who sin against us and hurt us, covers a multitude of their sins. Of course, we cannot forgive or cover up anyone’s sins with our own love, only God can and has forgiven sins in Christ Jesus. However, when we forgive those who sin against us or hurt us, when we respond to those who hurt us with love and forgiveness rather than retribution or contempt, we ourselves come to better know and enjoy the assurance of Christ’s forgiveness for our own sins.
The Lord who loves us perfectly and who has covered all of our sins in His own blood, is coming soon; very soon. Peter reminds all Christians to live expectantly in honest prayer and love, not only to ensure we stay prepared to meet our Lord who is to come but also to keep our hearts prepared and able to experience the love of our Lord who is with us now!
“Love covers a multitude of sins.” Christ calls us to love those who sin against us, to love our enemies, not because our enemies need our forgiveness instead of Christ’s, but because we need the forgiveness that we are called to give those who sin against us. When we hold a grudge or hold hatred in our hearts, it is not our enemy that suffers, but us. An unforgiving heart filled with resentment or bitterness has no room left to know or experience the joy and freedom Christ has promised us through faith in His love.
KIM PHUC PHAN THI knows first-hand, in a very real and tangible way, the joy and freedom that comes with covering the sins of your enemies and those who hurt you with the love of Christ. You may not recognize the name, Kim Phuc Phan, but I assure you that you know who she is.
On the 8 June 1972, a plane bombed the village of Trang Bang, near Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) in South Vietnam after the South Vietnamese pilot mistook a group of civilians leaving the temple for enemy troops. The bombs contained napalm, a highly flammable fuel, which killed and badly burned the people on the ground. A news photographer happened to be nearby to witness firsthand the heartbreaking devastation that resulted from the bombing. The iconic black-and-white image taken of children fleeing the scene won the Pulitzer Prize and was chosen as the World Press Photo of the Year in 1972. The centerpiece of that photo and the part that truly captured the horror of the moment, was the image of a nine year old girl, who ran naked down the highway screaming in terror after stripping off her napalm covered clothing that had critically burned her back, arms and neck. That nine-year-old girl, is Kim Phuc Phan. Christianity Today interviewed Kim, and I would like to share with you some of her words from that interview. Her story I believe is a beautiful example of what Peter is teaching us when he says, “love covers a multitude of sins.”
Kim said in the interview,
“You have seen my picture a thousand times. It’s a picture that made the world gasp—a picture that defined my life. I am nine years old, running along a puddled roadway in front of an expressionless soldier, arms outstretched, naked, shrieking in pain and fear, the dark contour of a napalm cloud billowing in the distance.
My own people, the South Vietnamese, had been bombing trade routes used by the Viet Cong rebels. I had not been targeted, of course. I had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Those bombs have brought me immeasurable pain. Even now, some 40 years later, I am still receiving treatment for burns that cover my arms, back, and neck. The emotional and spiritual pain was even harder to endure.
And yet, looking back at the past five decades, I realize that those same bombs that brought so much suffering also brought great healing. Those bombs led me to Christ.”
Kim goes on to tell about how the burden of anger and bitterness against those who bombed her village ended up becoming more painful than the burns on her body.
Kim says, “I continued to bear the crippling weight of anger, bitterness, and resentment toward those who caused my suffering—the searing fire that penetrated my body; the ensuing burn baths; the dry and itchy skin; the inability to sweat, which turned my flesh into an oven in Vietnam’s sweltering heat. I craved relief that never would come. And yet, despite every last external circumstance that threatened to overtake me—mind, body, and soul—the most agonizing pain I suffered during that season of life dwelled in my heart.
I was as alone as a person can be. I could not turn to a friend, for nobody wished to befriend me. I was toxic, and everyone knew it. To be near me was to be near hardship. Wise people stayed far away. I was alone, atop a mountain of rage. Why was I made to wear these awful scars?
In 1982, I found myself crouched inside Saigon’s central library, pulling Vietnamese books of religion off the shelves one by one. The stack in front of me included books on Bahá’í, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Cao Dai. It also contained a copy of the New Testament. I thumbed through several books before pulling the New Testament into my lap. An hour later, I had picked my way through the Gospels, and at least two themes had become abundantly clear.
First, despite all that I had learned through [my family’s religion of] Cao Dai—that there were many gods, that there were many paths to holiness, that the burden of “success” in religion rested atop my own weary, slumped shoulders—Jesus presented himself as the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). His entire ministry, it seemed, pointed to one straightforward claim: “I am the way you get to God; there is no other way but me.” Second, this Jesus had suffered in defense of his claim. He had been mocked, tortured, and killed. Why would he endure these things, I wondered, if he were not, in fact, God?
I had never been exposed to this side of Jesus—the wounded one, the one who bore scars. I turned over this new information in my mind as a gem in my hand, relishing the light that was cast from all sides. The more I read, the more I came to believe that he really was who he said he was, that he really had done what he said he had done, and that—most important to me—he really would do all that he had promised in his Word.”
Kim goes onto to tell how the Lord graciously brought her to saving faith and brought her to the freedom and joy of loving her enemies; covering their sins against her with the love she would come to know in Christ. Kim recounts a Christmas eve service in 1982 that she attended.
Kim says,
“The pastor spoke about how Christmas is not about the gifts we give to each other, so much as it is about one gift in particular: the gift of Jesus Christ. As I listened to this message, I knew that something was shifting inside me.
How desperately I needed peace. How ready I was for love and joy. I had so much hatred in my heart—so much bitterness. I wanted to let go of all my pain. I wanted to pursue life instead of holding fast to fantasies of death. I wanted this Jesus.
I experienced the kind of healing that can only come from God. I was finally at peace.
Nearly half a century has passed since I found myself running—frightened, naked, and in pain—down that road in Vietnam. I will never forget the horrors of that day—the bombs, the fire, the shrieks, the fear. Nor will I forget the years of trial and torment that followed. But when I think about how far I have come—the freedom and peace that comes from faith in Jesus—I realize there is nothing greater or more powerful than the love of our blessed Savior.
My faith in Jesus has enabled me to forgive those who have hurt and scarred me. It has enabled me to pray for my enemies rather than curse them. And it has enabled me not just to tolerate them but truly to love them.
I will forever bear the scars of that day, and that picture will always serve as a reminder of the unspeakable evil of which humanity is capable. That picture defined my life. In the end, it gave me a mission, a ministry, a cause.
Today, I thank God for that picture. Today, I thank God for everything—even for that road. Especially for that road.”
Well my friends, what an incredible story of Christ’s love and salvation, and how only through His love can we cover the sins of those who sin against us and be truly set free, prepared for that final day when our Lord returns. God bless you, and remember that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today and has already taken care of tomorrow. Amen.
