What do you need to know for sure? That you turned the coffee maker off this morning? That you closed the garage door when you left for work? No. It’s not the end of the world if you come home to the coffee crusted to the bottom of the pot or even that a bicycle is missing from your open garage. So much of what we think about doesn’t matter. There’s only one thing I need to know for sure: that I am forgiven.

In a.d. 430 when the church father Augustine was near death and his strength was ebbing away, he begged one of his friends to paint on the wall opposite his bed the words of Psalm 32: “Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them” (verses 1,2).

The dying Augustine laid there gazing at those words as the darkness closed in. There will be nothing else worth clinging to in the end than those words. Look at Jesus’ cross and know that as Jesus hung there dying and the darkness was closing in, he was thinking of you. He was saying already then, “Your wrongdoings are forgiven by my cross. Your sins are covered by my blood. I don’t hold anything against you.” Look at the cross and know you are forgiven. It’s the only thing you need to know for sure!