What? Who would use God and sin in the same sentence? Some do not want to hear of God, much less of sin.

Sin is a fact. Call it what you want, but we cannot deny the malady that affects our world. We want what we cannot have; we get and it does not satisfy. Pleasure does not last, riches sprout wings and fly away, and at the end of the day, we need something to deal with the pain.

The path of sin only begets more sin, ever deeper into the mire. Then we hear, "God's love covers our sins." The only place to get the proper context about God and sin is in the Holy Bible, the Word of Almighty God.

In Luke 15 there is the account of a certain young man. This guy had an older brother and, of course, parents. The young man was discontent with his circumstances. He was facing the demands of work, piety, loyalty, integrity, etc. He threw off all these things and determined to go his own way. This downward spiral needed financing, so he forced the issue and demanded money from his father.

The young man got the money and took off to a place far away. Money made things easier for a while, but the money ran out. When the money was gone, he was alone--really alone. Nobody cared for him.

His situation was so bad that he ended up with a dirty job feeding pigs. He asked the same question all of us ask when we are experiencing the consequences of sin: "How did I get here?"

In the middle of the pigpen, dirty and hungry, the young man decided to go home. The path home was humility.

Scripture tells us, "He came to his senses" (v. 17). He rehearsed the speech he planned to say to his father. The speech was a confession about all the wayward thinking and actions.

The main part of the speech was, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you" (v. 18). There was nothing in the speech about hard luck, dirty dealing by other people, etc. It was, "I have sinned." Personal responsibility for personal actions opens the windows of heaven.

The young man approached home. His father saw him coming. They met on the road. The son began the speech, but shortly after the words, "I have sinned," the father interrupted and had the servants care for this prodigal son who had come home.

The young man was dirty from the pigpen and the journey, but we do not hear of a scrub brush or soap and water. The father had the servants cover the boy as he was in "the best robe" (v. 22). This robe was reserved for a guest of honor.

This account of the young man and his father is a parable depicting the love of Almighty God for us. God is full of compassion, as this father was (v. 20). When we come to God in our brokenness--humble, dirty, undone--God already has the robe of righteousness waiting for us because of what Jesus Christ, the Son of God, did for us on the cross, when He shed His blood and died for our sins.

There is nothing we or others can do to clean us up from what we are. We need supernatural cleansing and covering. When we give our lives to Christ, He does just that. After we are a genuine child of God, God continues to works through His Spirit to practically make us pure, more and more like Jesus (Romans 8:29; Titus 3:3-8).

God's love covers our sins. We can go straight from the pigpen to the throne room of God. Jesus has paved the way and paid the way. The robe of righteousness is waiting for us there. Have you put it on?