Imagine this.

            You are in a courtroom, in the defendant’s chair.  The prosecuting attorney seems familiar, but you just can’t place him.  Is it his sly self-assurance or his haunting presence that irks you?

            There are other people in the courtroom too.  Witnesses, all for the prosecution you note.  Now you are scared.

            It gets worse.

            One by one, as they step forward to testify against you, you discover that the witnesses are people that you know or have known somewhere along your life’s journey – those near and dear to you.

            Hold your heart!  Your mother is there!!

            One by one the witnesses testify to every selfish, thoughtless, and hurtful thing you have ever done to them.  Every broken promise as well as every lie you thought you would never get caught in.  Every careless word or action that you wish you could take back.  Every sin.

            Now it is the prosecutor’s turn to speak.  You swallow hard. 

            “Behold, your accusers,” he sneers, waving a hand in the direction of the witnesses.  “Each has testified to your life of sin.  How do you plead?  Not guilty…or GUILTY?”

            The biggest mistake you ever made, you now realize, was thinking that there would be some gray area to seek refuge in.  How can you deny the truth?  Again your accuser speaks.

            “What is your plea?” he demands.

            Before you a large wooden cross appears.  You know that Cross.  Jesus Christ hangs there.  Your eyes are fixed on the ground.  You dare not lift them.  Or do you?

            Just as you feel the word forming on your lips, another more powerful Word finds its way into your heart. 

            Mercy.  Who spoke it?  You look to The Cross, to The Lord, and see it in His eyes.  You search your mind and recall it in His Word.  You search your soul and find it there, along with other words like Forgiveness, Grace, Love…Redemption…Salvation!

            Your accuser points one steely finger at you and another at The Cross, and shouts:

             “ARE YOU NOT COVERED WITH HIS BLOOD?”

             “His blood covers me,” you reply.  “There is a difference!”

 In 1 Peter 4:8, the apostle teaches us that “love covers over a multitude of sins.”  Jesus Christ is God’s expression of His unconditional love for us.  Christ died to make the difference for you!  He did not die to condemn you, but to save you!  He rose again and He lives to intercede for you!  Believe the Good News.