Under Gods Command
Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs.
Dissension is strife and where there is strife, there is hatred. Conflict cannot exist without hatred. And unless love prevails, the strife will get worse. Love does not fight – it covers offences and sins. It seeks peace and pursues it. It cannot tolerate strife; it tries to end it as soon as possible.
Strife, a word we do not use much today, means antagonism, enmity, discord, contention, or dispute. It is fighting and conflict. While it is godly to strive for truth against sin and error, here we have personal strife caused by the hatred of those who do not practice love. Notice the word practice.
Where there is envy, strife, enmity, conflict, or tension, all you need do is look a little deeper to find one or both parties guilty of hatred. Fighting and antagonism does not and cannot exist where each person is practicing Christian compassion, or love.
Compassion forgives sins and forgets sins, just as the Lord forgives and forgets them. Love hides and conceals sins under the same forgiving cover that Christ provides every saint. This is covering sin, and it is a rule of life for saints of the most High. But hatred, growing from anger and pride, loves to dig up evil, spread evil reports, and create strife and trouble.
What if a person says, “Oh, how I love Jesus,” but they stir up trouble, do not forgive personal offences, ignore repentance, and reveal sins to others? They are lying hypocrites, for the Bible says they are murdering descendants of Cain (1 John 3:10-15).
Let us take on the character of our Lord Jesus, who came into the world to save sinners. He has no use for the self-loving “righteous,” for He knows the blackness of their hearts. Let us choose to forgive and cover sins in love, so that we might easily and honestly pray, “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.”
Our lesson here is the basis for true peace – love. Where there is strife, contention, and tension, there is hatred lurking behind the false handshakes and lying words of murderers. It is our wisdom to live this lesson ourselves, avoid those wicked persons, and train such evil out of our children. Let us be the greatest peacemakers in the world by practicing the wisdom of this proverb. May the Lord Jesus grant us the grace and wisdom for the task.
Under Gods command 