Hatred stirs up conflict,
Proverbs 10:12
but love covers over all wrongs.
During 2026, Peachtree Church is inviting everyone into Cultivate, a churchwide discipleship plan centered on the fruit of the Spirit and the kind of life God longs to grow in us. Throughout the year, we’ll explore how love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control take shape in everyday life through the Spirit’s work. Cultivate brings together worship, Scripture, group guides, and meaningful practices designed to meet you where you are and support growth in ways that fit your season. These twice-weekly devotionals are one way to stay connected, offering reflection and grounding for daily life with God. Whether you engage in many ways or just one, you’re invited to be part of this shared journey of becoming more rooted in who God has created and called you to be.
Devotional
One of the challenges many of us face in our relationships is how to seek restoration after feeling wronged by someone else. In these moments, we often believe that we need to prove that we are right, to reiterate the places where we have been hurt, and all the other ways in which we can make ourselves out to be the victim. These feelings are normal and ones that nearly all of us have experienced at some time or another. However, they tend to be counterproductive to healing brokenness, as conflict is stirred up anew when both parties lose sight of love in a desire to be right. God reminds us in our passage today that “Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers all wrong.” Whenever I read these particular words, I tend to think that they are cliché and not truly helpful, at least until faced with one of those situations where they are helpful (which, when I’m honest, occurs at least once per day). Most of us focus on hatred as a ‘big picture’ concept—the animosity between nations that prevents lasting peace for generations. But in the book of Proverbs, God provides practical advice for everyday life. He points us toward the small hatreds: those tiny points of anger that, when allowed to fester, become the places where our relationships flounder.
The other aspect of this proverb that God desires for us to remember is what it means to love. In this case, we are not looking at love as the passionate, emotional outpouring we associate with Valentine’s Day. Instead, we are looking at the love I touched on in Monday’s devotional: the slow and steady push whereby we bring ourselves into alignment with another person, seeking to understand their perspective and find common ground. It is the love that Paul wrote about throughout his letters that in Greek is “agape,” which is a love that we have for other people, where we seek good for them simply because they, too, are created in God’s image.
So, I wish to offer this alternative translation to the second half of our scripture for today, “desiring good for one another simply because we are all children of God leads us to look for unity.” In a time when all it takes is a quick glance at the news to see the many places where hatred continues to stir up conflict, God calls us to look to how we might love one another.
For Reflection
- How do you understand God’s desire that we would love one another and love him?
- Where do you find it most difficult to seek to love other people?
Prayer
Gracious God, you continue to point our hearts and minds to love. You continue to call us to see the world with eyes of grace and a desire for goodness. Help us to look towards you and help us to put aside the petty hatreds that lead to long-term anger and distrust. Reform our hearts to be ones that reflect your presence to all who we meet. Amen.
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Devotionals