However, now as we progress through these last few phrases you will see that the beginning of this passage was only setting us up to make even more sacrifices in order to be conduits of His love.
Love bears all things...
And you thought the beginning of this passage called for some extreme love. The earlier parts of this passage were small potatoes compared to the gravity of these last few lines. This will be where the rubber meets the road.
This words "bears" in many cases and in our language would mean "to carry." When it is used in this passage it has a different meaning. And therein lies our problem...
It means "to cover, to protect, to keep secret or conceal (the faults of others)". It also means "by covering to keep something off that threatens, to bear up against, hold out against, or endure."
What kind of position does this put you in?
It puts you in the most dangerous of positions for the one you love. This is standing in harm's way for your spouse. This is you getting in between your spouse and that which would threaten to harm them and YOU taking the hit.
This love business is getting really messy! This type of extreme love is not talked about, not fully disclosed, and rarely mentioned in our churches, to say nothing of our premarital counseling. Even our wedding vows don't even speak to this depth of love. "For richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live" is about the extent of them. What if we were to put in there, "when harm comes I will stand between you and the threat and cover you even if it means my own harm"? This is an extreme view that we really don't want to hear.
We see this illustrated in the Word of God many times. If you read Numbers 16, you find the story of leaders of Israel inciting a revolt against Moses and Aaron. After God removed those guilty, the rest of the camp begins to murmur against Moses and Aaron. God's anger blazed and began to kill the Israelites. Moses, because he loved God's people even when they were speaking against him, told Aaron to grab the incense burners and stand between God and Israel and purify them with incense. In verse 48, it says that Aaron stood between the living and the dead and the plague stopped. Would you be willing to stand between God and your spouse in order to save them?
We also see Jesus do this for us. Jesus took His place on the cross to satisfy the debt of sin that we owed to God. He willingly stood between God and us and took the full force of the punishment for sin. Why? Because of His great love for us He stood in harm's way. Never flinching, always concealing us from the wrath of the Almighty God, and faithfully protecting us when we wanted nothing to do with Him.
You may or may not have heard about how this type of love has been acted out in our world today. In the aftermath of the tornadoes that struck the south recently is a story of a father that covered his family. As they were all huddled in the home this father of 13 children protected them with his own body from the violence of the storm. His oldest son witnessed his father's extreme sacrifice as he laid down his life covering his family. This father did not worry about his own safety but willingly bore the full weight of the storm for those he loved. Sounds a little like Jesus, huh?
We have said it before in earlier posts that this was something that Serena did for me as I was wandering from my place. Many people wanted to know specifics about me and what I was doing but she refused to give them anything. She covered me in prayer, protected me and my reputation, and kept me well hidden from potential threats that wanted to do me harm. By her stance in this matter, I was able to eventually rebuild bridges that I had tried to burn. Her protection allowed me to, in time, become fully restored to her, my family, my church, and in my ministry. Because she did not lay my iniquity bare and let God have His way with me, I am....excuse me...WE are where we are today.
So, what does this mean for each of us? Well, to start it means that we are very cautious about who we share our marital problems with. This cannot be emphasized strongly enough. Too often we share too much detail about our problems with too many people. When it gets passed from you to others not relevant to the issue it passes from prayer request to gossip. God has given YOU the grace to deal with the situation; not your neighbor, or your best friend, or you parents, or your kids (oh, please, do not make your kids choose sides!), or your coworkers. Only involve those that you know will cover your spouse with you. That should be a very short list. Those that you share with should be people of great prayer that will intercede with you but will also demand accountability from you.
Covering your spouse would also include not speaking about them in a negative way in front of people. Yea, lots of people may know their deeds because they have not kept them secret. That does not give you license to speak about them or their deeds and cause judgment to be brought against them. We forget that they are our own flesh and blood. We have a covenant with them that does not allow for our separation until death. Therefore, when you begin to speak negativity and curses on them, you speak them on yourself. Remember...you are no longer two but one flesh!!
When you feel as though you cannot keep this covering over your spouse with your own strength, ask the Father for help. According to the Word of God, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. So, stop trying to cover them and protect them in your own power; let Christ cover them through you.
1 Peter 4:8
Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other,
for love covers a multitude of sins.
Josh and Serena
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