1 Peter 4:7-11 But the end of all things is at hand: be you therefore sober, and watch to prayer.… The whole conception may have been based on the filial act of Noah's sons, of whom it is recorded that they took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders and went backward, and covered their father's drunken sin. 1. Love forgives. We are to be imitators of God in the swiftness and completeness of His forgiveness. 2. It avoids giving occasion for sin. It has been said that if you have a favourite horse, which always takes fright and shies at a certain point in the road, you are careful to come along another road, if possible, or to coax him, by speaking to him kindly, to go by without fear. So if you are aware that a certain subject will always invoke an outburst of hot temper in your friend, true love will lead you to avoid it. You will not needlessly incite to sin if you know how to avoid giving the first inducement. 3. It is quick to discern some generous construction to put upon the fault, or to quote some consideration to weigh in the opposite scale. "True, he was unpardonably dull and slow, but then how trustworthy and reliable." "Yes, he was very irritable and abrupt; but, then, remember what a strain he has been under lately in his business, not leaving the factory or counting house till late at night, and going back early in the morning, with no recreation or respite." "Granted, that he is now becoming soured and crabbed; but, then, what a glorious man he was in those earlier days, when he stood in the breach." "Are you sure that there is not some other explanation possible for his action?" In some such ways as these, Christian love argues with itself and others, and, as the result, many a sin is hindered on its way, and many a fault condoned. 4. It rebukes with great tenderness. There are cases where duty demands public censure. The sore must not lie covered up lest it prove to be deadly. It must be lanced or it cannot be cured. But the lancing is done with exquisite tenderness. The wrong-doer is reproved, rebuked, and exhorted, hut with all long-suffering (1 Timothy 4:2). The man overtaken with a fault is restored in the spirit of meekness (Galatians 6:1). (F. B. Meyer, B. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.WEB: But the end of all things is near. Therefore be of sound mind, self-controlled, and sober in prayer. |
    |