“Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.” (Romans 4:7-8NIV)

The wallpaper was dingy and stained and did not want to come off. I talked with the paint people at the store and they told me to paint over it and how to do so. I decided to try it.

As I applied the paint over the paper, I was amazed at how well it covered. A once gloomy room had been transformed into something new, bright and clean.

This painting over of the wallpaper reminded me of how we too are covered by the Lord’s grace and forgiveness when we trust in the power of the blood of Jesus, His work done for us upon the cross.

Our dingy, stained, sin filled lives, when given to Him are transformed in an instance. Those sins that were impossible for us to cover over by our own good works, are gone. They are covered, to be remembered no more, never to be counted against us. As the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV)

Anyone who now enters my home, would never know what is covered over by the paint. I do know though, just as I also know and remember the sins that Jesus has so graciously covered over in my life. I believe this knowing, even though I am assured that my sins are forgiven and will never be counted against me by the Lord, is a good thing. It is a good thing because it reminds me of how much God has done for me and causes my heart to praise Him and my will to seek to serve Him with gratitude.

There is however, another lesson here for us to learn. If God covers our sins through grace and then never counts them against us, we too must do likewise. We must avoid the penchant for holding the confessed sins of fellow Christians against them, even though there is that within us that likes to keep their sins before us, perhaps because it makes us feel better about ourselves, as we pat ourselves on the back believing that we would never do such a thing. The writer of Proverbs however very wisely pens this about the proud: “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18 NIV)

Let us therefore ask God for grace, humility and love, to forgive and forget the covered over sins of others, by seeking to love one another deeply, just as He loves us, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

Prayer: Father God Thank You for Your forgiveness and help us today to love others as You love us, forgiving, forgetting and not counting their covered over sins against them. In Christ’s name. Amen.

Lynne Phipps
Tawatinaw, Alberta, Canada