1 Peter 4:7-8

“The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”

Both our time and time as a whole has limits. The end and our end will come. Knowing this, we should “be self-controlled and sober-minded.” Self-control--it seems so illusive at times. Often the things I desire to change in my life take years of failure before I see any success. Sober-mindedness would seem to be more easily attained. But perhaps our lack of self-control betrays the true lack of sobriety. If I would sober up to reality, I would live a controlled life. We should not be controlled by other people; we should be controlled by ourselves, behaving a certain way because of our perspective on life. Of course this is only accomplishable with the Spirit’s empowering.

But our mortality is not the only motivation to live self-controlled lives. If we fail to live with self-controlled sober-mindedness, it will interfere with our prayers. Earlier in the book we were warned that a husband’s failure to be understanding with his wife hinders his prayers. Here we are told that we should have these characteristics “for the sake of [our] prayers.” Perhaps this is a parallel idea, lacking these characteristics produces a hindered prayer life. But perhaps the hindrance is that you will not pray. If you are not sober-minded about what’s going on around you, why pray?

But as important as self-control and sober-mindedness are, there is something put in a position of importance above them. Love is more important. Love will certainly result in self-control and sober-mindedness. Because I love my wife, I seek to control my selfish impulses, live with the knowledge that I have the responsibility of providing for her at all times, and be careful to never hurt her. But in addition to love’s resulting in self-control and sobriety, the text states that love is important because it covers a multitude of sins. When people wrong or upset you, love takes care of it.