Cover Girl forgiveness

It may be my vanity, but I fancy that my sins are not conspicuous. Whatever sins I have or entertain, I fancy I hide them pretty well. I am not the loud and boisterous kind – you know, like those in-your-face debauched folk who flaunt their sins in front of the whole world. (You can see lots of them on TV nowadays).

But the first thing I read this morning is that the sins of some folk follow them to judgment:

“The sins of some people are conspicuous and precede them to judgment, while the sins of others follow them there.”

This is worrisome. These folks also thought their sins were not conspicuous. They had other people believing they were on the beam, walking the walk. They actually had themselves believing it.

These are the folks who wear the forgiveness of God in Jesus like cosmetic make-up. In my aesthetics class, we are using Cover Girl makeup advertisements as an example of Platonic ideals. The makeup makes the women look like the Platonic ideal of what beautiful women should look like. Of course the real versions fall a bit short of the mark. Cover Girl. Get it?

The cover girl way to handle God’s forgiveness in Jesus is not to receive the forgiveness, but to use it. Like makeup. Do yourself up before you go out and face the day. Then you will not be conspicuously sinful.

I think this is what Paul means. Some people’s sins follow after them because they have cover-girl-ed those sins up from others and from themselves pretty well. But these folks will be the ones more surprised on jury day.

I need to deal with my cover girl methods.

But then, what a breath of fresh air. The next thing I read is,

“If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.”

This is the beauty of my Christianity. I may handle God’s forgiveness like a cover girl, but God’s mercy has brought me to read both these verses today at one time, and my joy is restored even as I grow in sincerity.

Logos2Go:

1 Timothy 5.24 The sins of some people are conspicuous and precede them to judgment, while the sins of others follow them there.

Psalm 130.3-4 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? 4 But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.