Daily Scripture Reading and Meditation–Proverbs 10:12

Posted by Seth on Aug 26, 2009 in Daily Devotions |

Daily Scripture Reading and Meditation–Proverbs 10:12

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Welcome to today’s Daily Scripture Reading and Meditation covering Proverbs 10:12 wherein we are challenged to apply love to everything that proceeds from us.

Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.

Do you ever seethe with hate? I do; for me it is a great weakness. Many times I’m very angry at evil things and imagine meting out my own form of justice on the perpetrators. Sometimes I’m angry at stupid things, like when I’ve felt offended by someone. This kind of boiling, this hatred, we are told, stirs up strife. In essence, fuming builds more fuming and breeds conflict and division.

It is safe to say that strife is always one step away since we all have buttons that can be pushed and stresses we’re trying to work through or manage. It is so easy to wallow in the self-justification and pride that we feel we must be guarded against wounds that others might bring. A sharp word, a nasty look, a little sabotage, and we’ve built, or at least laid the foundation for, a wall or war.

But such things need not be the case, for as we read on, we find that love covers all offenses. Love sets free the people we experience conflict with; hatred imprisons them in their sins and weaknesses. It is always worth trying to apply love to every situation where we are interacting with others. Odd as it might sound, think about toast for a moment. Now toast is produced at a variety of levels: underdone, golden brown, and burnt. But it goes without saying that it is always better with butter. I might make breakfast for my family this weekend, and though I’d like to have that toast just perfect in nature so that it goes down just right, I can make it work if it’s a bit off with a little of that not-so-calorie-free-but-certainly-delicious spread. So it is with love. We would like to have every word that we must deliver to another be completely pleasant, but life doesn’t work that way. We have to give good and bad news, issue compliments as well as challenge, bring praise and confrontation. But lather any of these with sincere love, and the words will likely go down much easier and greatly extend what could have become a forever damaged relationship.

Consider where we would be had not our Creator applied such love to us. Though He would be justified in pouring out all His wrath upon mankind, He instead sent His willing Son to lovingly pour out His blood. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10). Do you know Him? If you do, does His love flow through you toward others? As easy as it can be for us to just throw stuff on the table as soon as we think it’s ready, let’s not forget the butter.

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