love

Thursday, April 15, 2010 (7:10 a.m.)

Loving Lord,

Thank You for Your love. Your love, that covers a multitude of sins. Hmm. In Peter’s first letter to hurting people…

Friday, April 16, 2010 (6:32 a.m.)

…he ‘offered words of hope to the growing pressures under which Christians lived’. His was ‘a call to holiness and an explanation of the role of suffering in Christian experiences’ (The Bible Handbook).

Lord God, how I thank You that this letter has come to speak to ‘all believers, everywhere’, not only to the ‘scattered’ (Jewish Christians who lived in foreign cities) of Peter’s time.

Blessed Lord, there is always so much more to learn. Thank You for the scholars who have come before to help explain the background of Peter’s time, the purpose of this particular letter, its values and emphases.

It is so easy for me to tootle along (go or travel in a leisurely way) assuming I understand precisely what I am reading. Thank You for the opportunity to dig deeper than my first impression of any given portion of Scripture.

Forgive me Father for the countless times I get so side-tracked on researching the details, I lose focus of the message. Your message taught by and through Your followers.

Here I am, reading 1Peter 4:8. “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins.” And come to find out, it references Proverbs 10:12. “Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sin.”

There are so many versions of the Bible Lord, all trying to get Your point across. Let this truth, Your truth, seep down into my soul.

After Peter spoke of the power of Your love, he encouraged the good use of the gifts of Your Spirit. Lord, I confess to still struggling in determining what Your spiritual gifts to me actually are. For now, I will be content to continue learning to love as You would have me love. Deeply.

Help me with this, Dear Lord. Thank You. I love You. Amen.

(336 words ~ 7:35 a.m.)