“Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love                                 covers a multitude of sins.” – 1 Peter 4:8

“Above all…” Should any of us desire to do anything of value for the Kingdom of Heaven, let love be the primary motivating factor. Serving, without love, is a self-righteous show of good deeds; giving, without love, is pious money lending; teaching, without love, is a bland lecture; preaching, without love, is a harsh scolding. But love! Let God add it to your serving, and you will delight in those humble trenches. Let God infuse it in to your giving, and you will long to meet the needs of another with no expectation of repayment. Let God pour it out on your teaching, and your heart will burn to push others nearer the Throne of Grace. Let God ignite it in your preaching, and your words will plead good news of grace and mercy to the weary and defeated. Attempting any of these things without having first looked upon the pinnacle of God’s love for all mankind, the very blood-stained Cross of Calvary, is a weighty mistake. Going to ‘the source’ on Sundays is not enough; burn out and self pity are sure to ensue. Provisions have been made for us to access the very source of love Himself daily through the precious blood of Jesus. We can come and freely take of the supply of our Father’s storehouse!  Like a warm blanket on a cold day, love stretches out its corners over the sins of a failing brother or sister in the Lord. Love sends husbands and wives to the prayer closet with one another’s shortcomings to lift up rather than the news feed to tear down. Love considers the feelings of a co-worker caught in a grievance when others concede to the clatter of the break room. Thank God, love took our sin to a tomb rather than a teleprompter. Love does not delight in putting private pain on public display. Love covers.

In the dust of His feet,

Sunni Hoffman

The Holy Spirit has but one direction – always and only forwards.  The children of Israel had been delivered from the bondage of Egypt just as the child of God has been delivered from the bondage of sin.  To return would be ruin.  But isn’t ‘returning that way‘ the temptation for most?  How easy it is for us to forget how great a taskmaster sin is and the painful wages it delivers! The temptation for a king in the new nation of Israel would be to say, “Oh, we’re just going back to retrieve some horses and chariots! You know, in case we need to defend ourselves in our new land.” God forbid! The one thing that pleases God is ‘faith.’ Can He not be trusted? Must I go back to providing for myself? The daily fight for the child of God is to renounce all dependence on self and that which we can ‘provide’ for ourselves by the means of the flesh. As a blood-bought redeemed child of God, EVERYTHING I need has already been provided by my elder brother, Christ Jesus, and His atoning work on Calvary. Now, do I really believe that? If so, I can conclude that it is not God’s will for me to go back to ‘Egypt’ and bargain with my former employer, the devil, for a relationship, job, peace, joy, a reprieve from loneliness, etc, etc. God’s best for me is before me, prepared in eternity past by a good Father who loves me and has prepared a way, the way of faith, to those who would but dare throw the weight of their being on Jesus – Who He is and What He has done.

In the dust of His feet,

Sunni Hoffman