Above All Else

Transcript

Hello, my friend… so glad you're with me today. This is By God's Call — day 356, Above All Else.

"Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins." 1 Peter 4:8.

Notice the first word: above all. Peter is closing a section packed with urgent instructions — sober-mindedness, prayer, hospitality — and before moving on, he pauses and says: of all of this, this one comes first. It isn't one item on the list. It's what organizes the whole list. Take love out of the center, and everything else collapses into empty religion.

And look at the word he chooses to describe this love: earnestly. In the original language, that word pictures a muscle stretched to its limit, an athlete straining with everything they've got. This is not lukewarm, convenient love that only shows up when it's easy. It's a love that demands continuous effort — every single day, even when it's tiring, even when the person doesn't deserve it.

And why is that effort so worth it? Because love covers a multitude of sins. Notice the word: multitude. Not one small, easily forgotten mistake. A lot. Repeated. The kind of thing that, humanly speaking, you'd have every right to hold a grudge over. But love, when it's real, chooses to cover instead of expose. It chooses to forgive instead of stacking offense on offense in a mental list you pull out every time the person messes up again.

And this isn't Peter's invention. He's echoing almost word for word what Proverbs already said centuries earlier: hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses. That truth runs straight through the Old and New Testaments because it comes from the very character of God. That's how He treated you — covering, not exposing. Forgiving, not keeping score.

Now, let me be clear about something: covering sin doesn't mean pretending it never happened. It doesn't mean minimizing what hurt. It means choosing not to expose it, not to use it as a weapon in the next argument, not letting it rot inside you until it becomes bitterness. It's an active act of love — costly, but freeing, first of all for the one who forgives.

I want to ask you, gently: is there some offense you're holding onto right now? Maybe it's small — a harsh word, a forgotten promise, a lack of attention. Maybe it's big — a betrayal, an old wound that still stings when you remember it. Peter isn't saying it's easy. He's saying it's possible, because the love of God in you is greater than the offense you received.

So today, I want to invite you to actually do this: think of one specific offense, however small, that you've been holding against someone. And today, choose to let it go. No bringing it up. No mentioning it again. Just covering it with love, the way God's love covered you.

Stay close to God. Pray — then act. I'll see you tomorrow, my friend.