Covered in Grace

March 2, 2020

Romans 4:1-7

“So, this is retirement: sitting next to me on the couch watching Dr. Phil.”

Thankfully my wife was joking when she said this. I say thankfully because a) I watch very little television in general, b) I despise daytime television in particular, and c) I am not a fan of Dr. Phil. It has now become a running joke between us.

My expectations of retirement are considerably different. Let me just say right off the top that I love spending time with my wife and we like to do many of the same things together. Watching Dr. Phil just isn’t one of them. What I choose to do instead is work on my stamp collection. I admit this doesn’t sound particularly exciting, but it is something I’ve looked forward to doing for many years.

My Dad, who had been collecting since the 1930s, got me into stamp collecting when I was about 10 years old. I was an avid collector for a number of years. Then our kids were born. At that point I didn’t have the time or money to continue and I put my collection aside. A few years later my Dad passed away and I inherited his collection of stamps. While our collections were different, they had one thing in common: they were pretty disorganized. Different stamps from different countries and different eras were all mixed together. I always looked forward to the day when I could put them in albums and organize them into a nice collection.

That day is now. Since I’m retired and have the time, I’ve been working to identify and organize all these different stamps. It can be a pretty tedious and time consuming process. One day last week my desk was literally covered with stamps I was sorting. It was on this particular day that our cat Grace, a 20 pound Maine Coon, decided to do something she had never done before: jump up on my desk. She must have thought that I put those stamps out for her, because she proceeded to roll in them until her long black fur was covered in stamps.

I must have yelled or made a noise, because she did one of those cartoon moves (legs spinning but not getting anywhere) and then launched herself off the desk leaving a trail of stamps in her wake. After calming down and picking up all the stamps, I just had to laugh. And the more I thought about it, the more I thought maybe God was trying to show me something. I’m a visual learner, and Grace was a visual lesson of one of this coming Sunday’s readings.

In his letter to the believers in Rome, St. Paul talked about the difference between living under the Law and living by faith. As an example he used Abraham, the father of us all. God called Abraham out of his home country into an unknown and uncertain future. God didn’t choose Abraham because he was a righteous man; on more than one occasion he showed just how unrighteous he was. No, God chose Abraham for his faith.

For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.”

Righteousness, Paul argued, doesn’t come from following the Law, but from faith. Which is good news because no one can follow the Law perfectly. Even if our behavior were correct, even if we could follow the ‘rules’, our motivation for doing so would probably be selfish, thus nullifying our efforts. Left to our own devices, we can never be good enough. But, we don’t have to worry. We just need to have faith (trust) in the promises of God.

David also speaks of the blessedness of those to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the one against whom the Lord will not reckon sin.”

I love that visual: our sins are covered. Just as Grace was covered in stamps, so we are covered in grace. When God looks at us he doesn’t see our sin. We are covered in the love of God and the righteousness of Christ. We just have to believe that this is true.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that it sounds too good to be true. You’re thinking there must be a catch, that we must have to do something. This is where faith comes into play. Grace is made active by faith. As Paul wrote,

For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace.

Think of it this way: you’re cured of a life-threatening illness. But, does that cure do you any good if you don’t believe that you’ve been cured? Wouldn’t you go on living as if you were still sick? But, if you believed you were well, wouldn’t your way of life change in response to your healing? New life begins right here, right now. Faith is trust that God has made us well.

God acts and we respond, not the other way around. Maybe we have trouble accepting this since it’s not about what we do, but what God has already done for us. If that’s where you are, if you’re still struggling to make yourself acceptable to God, let me quote Dr. Phil: “How’s that working for you?”

Last week I wrote that God values movement. I always thought of stamp collecting as a pretty static activity until I saw my stamps attached to Grace’s fur as she ran through the house. Similarly, we are covered in grace; let’s carry it with us and leave a trail of blessings in our wake.