Scripture: 1 Peter 4:8 – “Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.” (NRSVue)
As I get older, my pop culture references get more and more stale. That being said, I was thinking about grace, and what popped into my head was an old The Simpsons episode from 2000 called “Faith Off,” where Bart becomes a faith healer. After “miraculously” removing a bucket glued to his father’s head, a revivalist called “Brother Faith” invites Bart to use his seemingly holy power for God. Brother Faith talks about when he was young, he was a hellraiser, but he saw the light. Bart responds, “I figure I'll go for the life of sin, followed by the presto change-o deathbed repentance.” Brother Faith says, “Wow, that’s a good angle.” He challenges Bart by saying that a life of service provides “full coverage,” but the cynicism is palpable.
While there is theological nuance to issues of confession, there is still a sense by many that God owes us forgiveness or that we can game the system by defaulting to God’s love. There is a term in theology for this kind of thinking. It is called “cheap grace.”
Cheap grace is when you take God’s gift of salvation for granted and do not let it touch your heart. Cheap grace limits the power of God’s wrath, which we should take seriously. Because God has a right to be angry. When we look around at the cruelty, the violence, the broken lives and burning planet, we cannot believe that God would say, “Oh well, at least you believed in me.” We must believe that God holds us to a higher standard, even if we have been given an unconditional gift.
The First Letter of Peter puts this in perspective. It points out the various sins that Christians should move beyond in their faith, things like “debauchery, passions, drunkenness, revels, carousing, and lawless idolatry.” But our human fears and desires can still get in the way. So, when speaking of a common life of love, it says, “love covers a multitude of sins.”
Love provides us with a way back from our selfishness. Because love is what brings us out of our fear and desire by getting us to focus on people other than ourselves. Even if we have done bad things in the past, even if we struggle with temptation, focusing our life on love will see us through to living a life which glorifies God.
What ways can you show love today? How can you put aside ignoring the needs of others or judging them as unworthy of love and just love them? If we would all put love central in our lives, it would not make the world perfect, but it would make the world better. And that is one reason why God has given us grace, for it to be shared with others.
Prayer: Help me love in times of ease. Help me love in times of trouble. Help me love today and always. Amen.
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