Cover v. Conceal

“My dear brothers and sisters, if someone among you wanders away from the truth and is brought back, you can be sure that whoever brings the sinner back from wandering will save that person from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins.” James 5:19‭-‬20 NLT

Love covers.

I don’t think I always understood what that meant. …Love covers a multitude of sins… I think I falsely thought that it meant love ignored, brushed away, slipped under a rug a multitude of sins… Like, just pretended that the sin, or offense, never happened.

But I was wrong.

Love covers a multitude of sins, while hate conceals a multitude of sins.

Jessy, what do you mean by that?

In the military, I learned it this way: Cover provides protection from projectiles, bullets, weapons, etc… Meanwhile, concealment can provide cover, but there’s no protection from projectiles, bullets, weapons, etc… concealment is basically used to hide you.

The love that Jesus displayed for us in shedding His innocent blood on at old rugged cross afforded us cover/protection from the consequences of sin. When we choose to live contrary to the Word of God, we live outside of the cover of the blood of Jesus for our sins. And sure, our sins may be concealed, or hidden, for a while, but there is no secret thing. And as the saying goes: Nothing stays hidden forever. What’s done in the dark will come to light.

*Original image courtesy of KayBee05