The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace. 1 Pet. 4:7-10
Dear Lord Jesus, may Peter’s words sink deep into my heart today. If I really believed “the end of all things is at hand,” if I really believed your return could happen within my lifetime, of course it would make a significant difference in how I live and love.
Whenever I attend a funeral, I always go away with a sense of the fragility of life. At least for a few days, I hug loved ones a little tighter and linger a little longer in conversations. But then it’s “back to normal,” and the old harried pace takes over and broken patterns in relationships resume.
Rather than “covering a multitude of sins,” we get irritated with one another’s sins; rather than welcoming one another without grumbling, we guard our own space with complaining; rather than using our gifts to serve each other, we hoard our gifts to satisfy ourselves; rather than administering your multifaceted grace to one another, we withhold it from one another. Yet “the end of all things is near.” God, have mercy on me, the sinner.
Jesus, please bring the gospel to bear in fresh ways in my way relationships. I don’t want to love by guilt but by grace. I don’t want to love by fear but by faith. I don’t want to love with a view to another funeral but with a view of your second coming. I don’t want to love to get anything from people, but because I’ve received everything in you.
Jesus, you’re the one who loves us deeply. You’re the one who has covered, not just a multitude of sins but all of our sins. You’re the one who always welcomes without grumbling. You’re the one who’s always serving us and giving us grace upon grace. Whether you return in fifteen minutes or fifteen hundred years, free us to love to your glory today. So very Amen we pray, in your holy and loving name.