Spackle (and Love) Cover a Multitude of Sins...

Sheetrock.  It is a wonderful, lightweight, easy to use construction material.  At Shiloh we are in the "sheetrock and spackle" stage of construction.  The problem with sheetrock is that it is somewhat fragile.  It is the rigidity of the wall studs and ceiling joists that give it structural integrity.  But if you were to, say, punch a wall because you are angry at your older brother (as I did when I was in jr. high) and hit a spot in between studs, it pretty much crumbles under the pressure.  In fact, when you screw or nail sheetrock to the studs, you have to be careful not to damage the sheetrock as well.

But wait... there is really good news!  Spackle!

Spackle is fantastic.  There is so much it can do.  It covers unsightly seams between pieces of sheetrock, it fills nail holes, it doctors damage from angry fists.  But, it isn't that the damage isn't there.  The damage still exists.  If you punch through a wall and patch it, there are still scars underneath the spackle.  The beauty of it, though, is that the damage is negated, covered...

...forgiven.

1 Peter 4:8 tells us that, "Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins."  People often confuse what this means.  In their mind they twist it so that if you have sinned, you can love to cover it up and fix it.  This verse is not talking about penance.  You can't earn forgiveness (in fact, the very nature of forgiveness is that you don't deserve it).  In reality this verse means that when you love someone you are willing to forgive them for a lot.  They may sin against you, but your love covers it.  I can tell you personally that this love/spackle thing is one of the MOST important aspects of marriage (or any important relationship).

In your relationships spackling the seams is like ignoring inherent flaws in a persons personality.  Filling in the the nail or screw holes with spackle is like covering up or forgiving those hurts that sometimes define a person (they sometimes double as the things that hold that person together).  Using spackle to repair a damaged wall is like repairing damage via forgiveness in your relationships.

Are you willing to go through the messy process of spackling to learn how to repair and forgive?