“Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.” Pr17.9
Love doesn’t keep score. God’s word tells us that we love when we keep no record of the wrongs incurred against us. Now this is important, because if one doesn’t know the score, one can’t very well repeat it. I think we need to draw a twofold distinction to properly understand these words. First, we are encouraged to cover any offense against us but this does not mean that we cover up our own offenses. When it comes to our offenses, we are to confess them. When it comes to the offenses of others, we are to conceal them. In what sense? This is the second distinction. We should not understand these words to mean that we cover up , a wrong doing (as in Watergate) but to cover it in the sense of paying the debt. The idea is that we remit an offense. We pay the debt or we cancel the debt. God remits our transgressions because Christ has covered the debt, paid it, if you will, by His death. As His followers, we too are told to remit all offenses against us. By canceling the debt or by absorbing the abuse, we like Christ, cover it.
When this verse tells us that repeating the matter separates close friends, it would involve repeating it not just to others as in gossip, or repeating it to the offending party, as in bringing up the past, but also by repeating it to our own heart, reopening the wound instead of letting it heal. Nothing good comes from reliving an offense and love knows only to seek good. Love doesn’t keep score because it is committed to crossing the finish line with someone, rather than ahead of them. 2/20/07 ts
Love doesn’t keep score. God’s word tells us that we love when we keep no record of the wrongs incurred against us. Now this is important, because if one doesn’t know the score, one can’t very well repeat it. I think we need to draw a twofold distinction to properly understand these words. First, we are encouraged to cover any offense against us but this does not mean that we cover up our own offenses. When it comes to our offenses, we are to confess them. When it comes to the offenses of others, we are to conceal them. In what sense? This is the second distinction. We should not understand these words to mean that we cover up , a wrong doing (as in Watergate) but to cover it in the sense of paying the debt. The idea is that we remit an offense. We pay the debt or we cancel the debt. God remits our transgressions because Christ has covered the debt, paid it, if you will, by His death. As His followers, we too are told to remit all offenses against us. By canceling the debt or by absorbing the abuse, we like Christ, cover it.
When this verse tells us that repeating the matter separates close friends, it would involve repeating it not just to others as in gossip, or repeating it to the offending party, as in bringing up the past, but also by repeating it to our own heart, reopening the wound instead of letting it heal. Nothing good comes from reliving an offense and love knows only to seek good. Love doesn’t keep score because it is committed to crossing the finish line with someone, rather than ahead of them. 2/20/07 ts
