"Love covereth all sins" (Pro. 10:1212Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins. (Proverbs 10:12)). What a wonderful statement this is! It implies something very practical and active-not theoretical-for this is the distinctive characteristic by which the Christian is to be known (John 13:3535By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. (John 13:35)). Love is the difference between religion and Christianity- between sincerity and the synthetic and superficial. It is the only motive for acceptable service to the Lord.
This love, put by God into the believer's heart (Rom. 5:55And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. (Romans 5:5)), is the enabling power to act as we ought. It is a love that rejoices when others are being praised and honored and we are not. It is a love that is thankful when the Lord uses others for the promotion of His glory, without envy, jealousy, or other unworthy feelings, however we may label them. Real love for the Lord's people will always lead us to endeavor to put someone else forward instead of ourselves.
In what other ways do we see that "love covereth"? Perhaps the most practical demonstration of this is the absence of gossip-never speaking of our brother or sister in a negative way. We should shrink from exposing them by tale bearing. When we know anything wrong, we rather go to the Lord about it. This reveals our true feelings-our own spiritual state. When we spread things around, the whole company is infected; but when we go to the Lord, the Holy Spirit can, in answer to our prayers, begin to work upon the heart and conscience of the wrongdoer, to bring him to repentance or to break him down under the discipline of the Lord.
But love for our brother will go further, leading us to go to him tenderly, graciously, kindly and meekly, seeking to help him in his difficulty, pointing out the wrong, and praying with him. (See Gal. 6:1, 21Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. 2Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:1‑2).)
There is a beautiful little picture in the Old Testament in connection with the candlestick that is very instructive as to our relationships in the body of believers. A candlestick was really a little olive-oil lamp with a wick. The wick would burn just so long, then would char and blacken, needing to be snuffed. The Lord told Moses to make a golden candlestick with seven lamps, and its snuffers and snuff dishes of pure gold.
The more' I read my Bible, the more I am impressed with the importance of every word. What is there in snuffers and snuff dishes? Well, if a lamp is going to burn brightly, it needs to be snuffed sometimes. And if we want to burn brightly for Christ, there will be many a time when we will have to judge ourselves in the presence of the Lord, or we will be just like the burned wick which obscured the light.
The priest of old was to go in and trim the lamp, using a golden snuffer. Gold in Scripture speaks of that which is divine, so the believer who reproves his brother is to go to him in fellowship with the Lord. He may be able to help his brother if he goes in this spirit.
What did the priest do with the snuff when he took it away? Did he scatter it around, getting it on his white robe, and on his hands, defiling the garments of the other priests? Oh no! He was to take that dirty black snuff and put it in a golden snuff dish, and cover it up so that it would not defile anyone else. That is what love does! It does not spread abroad our brother's failures, but covers them up in the presence of God.
If Satan cannot get us to overlook sin and to go on as though nothing had happened, he will seek to have us go to the other extreme. David knew something of this when he said, "Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord; for His mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man." 2 Sam. 24:1414And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the Lord; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man. (2 Samuel 24:14). There is a tendency with us to be hard and unforgiving toward one another, forgetting His mercy and grace in our own case. So we have the urging of the Holy Spirit, "Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Eph. 4:3232And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:32). This is a forgiveness that includes the grace to forget.
It is well for us to remember that the assembly is a company of repentant sinners, and heaven is a Home for repentant sinners. As we seek by His grace to maintain the truth of God, may we keep before us a sense of the grace, mercy, and patience that has been shown us.