Our attempts will always fail. There are no works we can do to add to what he has already done on the cross to pay for our sins. His covering is perfect since he is the Master Painter. “There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1).

A few years ago, I had to do some touch up painting on the exterior siding of our house since we had some planks replaced. In my first attempt, I used a color my wife and I picked out called grey sanctuary. We thought it was going to be a good match. Not so much. It was too light.

We went back to Lowe’s, and they did a digitized color match using a small piece of the old siding that Linda found lying around. Afterwards, I painted over the light places with the new color, and it blended in perfectly. You can’t easily tell what was painted and what was not.

The dramatic results of the two different paint colors I had used is a great illustration of the contrast between what it looks like when we try to cover our sin versus how it looks when God covers our sin. (However, I realize that human illustrations fall apart if we try to take them too far.)

Maybe there isn’t any direct mention of the word “paint” in the Bible (at least not in the NIV that I use). Still, the concept of covering is a predominant theme, so the function of paint as a covering might be helpful here. I pray the power of this illustration helps God’s people see an abstract concept more clearly and that this greater understanding can be applied in their own lives.

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