Though your sins are as scarlet

Though your sins are like scarlet....

I'm not going to lie.  The snowfall last night and this morning were not my favourite thing ever.  I actually like winter, but sometimes in this part of the world it seems to take a while to go away....

Last night I was out on the highway after a family visit driving home.  The snowbanks underneath had all melted, and the fresh blanket of snow covered everything.  There was no grass showing, there was no pavement showing... even the edges of the road were covered by the blanket of white.  It was dangerous driving so we took it slow, but the extent to which everything was now covered over and made white struck me. 

God's resurrection power over sin and death didn't only cover over my little area of sin.  It covered everything.  There are many stories in the Bible and otherwise of people who think they are 'too far gone' to be loved by God.  Over and over again, Christ reminds us that his grace is sufficient.  We need to be reminded of just how all encompassing God's redemption and grace is.  As good as the creation was when God spoke it into being, as deep as we are affected by sinful decision, so deep and far and wide is the love of God that it blankets and covers over everything.  Just as the new snow shows no evidence of anything underneath, so all encompassing is the power of the cross.

In our staff devotions this morning, Mrs. DeHaan shared the song "Glorious Day" by Casting Crowns.  As I pondered the snow cover, the lyrics of the Easter Sacrifice in that song wonderfully encompassed this truth we live with:
One day they led Him up Calvary's mountain
One day they nailed Him to die on a tree
Suffering anguish, despised and rejected
Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He
Hands that healed nations, stretched out on a tree
And took the nails for me...

Living, He loved me
Dying, He saved me
Buried, He carried my sins far away
Rising, He justified freely forever
One day He's coming
Oh glorious day, oh glorious day

Perhaps I'll continue to grumble about this late snowfall for the inconveniences it brings, but I will also give thanks for the picture of grace and purity with which it has blessed us!