Clearly covering here is not a moral issue. What ever this 'matter' is has power to cleave intimacy. The question we ask is not about the issue itself. The question is, 'What are we seeking?'
"Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins." - 1 Peter 4:8 ESV
Yes. Love is what we are seeking. Love that comes from God. Love that is revealing in the finished work. Love that functions in grace.
What about the woman who gets beat up by her boyfriend? The fellow who goes from person to person ripping people off. The predator. The abuser. Seeking love might be seeking jail time for people. That might be just what they need. Do we bad mouth people? Do we label them? Are we any of us better than any one else? No.
We seek love for the victim and the victimizer alike.
"And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.
Then said Jesus, 'Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.'
And they parted his raiment, and cast lots." - Luke 23:33-34 KJV
Jesus forgave them but they didn't stop doing what they were doing.. not yet anyway. Maybe they did later.
"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." - Ephesians 4:29-32 ESV
Forgiveness is a covering.
If it is just behavior modification it will fail. It will not hold water. It will have little strength. It must be 'as Christ forgave you'. Not just in comparison. We can't just copy Jesus. It must be God's mind functioning in us and agreeing with God about what Christ has done on the cross. We go as ministers of a real historical reconciliation.
"The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit." - James 5:16b-18 ESV
If we cover people in private we are already seeking love on their behalf. It will change the way we deal with them in public.. no matter who they are.
We pray and we become one with the heart of our covering. Jesus is sitting making intercession day and night. Only Heavens history books will tell us what that means in our daily lives. Our few minutes of prayer... our time throughout the day.. it provides a covering because it is seeking love.
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