This is a short follow-up post to expand upon my recently published Upper Room devotional that came out on 12 November 2022. First of all, I want to thank everyone for your responses, kind words, and for subscribing to this blog. My heart was bursting with love and emotions throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday with the outpouring of Facebook replies and new blog subscribers. All praise, honor and glory to God!!
I welcome your comments and constructive feedback to my blog posts that I will use as opportunities for continued engagement with you, as well as improving my writing effectiveness in this journey. Be on the lookout for upcoming new blog posts.
My Upper Room devotional, “Another Try”, touches on how we’d all like another opportunity to do the right thing or change our words or actions to avoid hurting someone. In an explosion of passionate rage, we’d like to immediately take back what slipped through our lips or when we hit the “send” button too quickly on that caustic email. We are all human, we make mistakes, and we accumulate regrets for our speech and actions. From a spiritual sense, we are all sinners in need of repentance and God’s merciful forgiveness. Bottom line is: we all want second chances throughout our lives to get on the right side of a situation and the right side of God.
But how many times do we receive those second chances in our worldly lives? I related in the devotional how that was done in my round of golf. Golfers call those strokes “mulligans” when we can hit the ball again to improve our situation, but not have that stroke count against our golf score. Wonderful when you’re playing a friendly round of golf with your buddies, but what about our everyday lives and relationships? How can we ever receive a “mulligan” or “do-over” for our words or actions where we can go back in time to replace the errant action or word as if it never occurred? Choices have consequences, right? “I’m so sorry officer, may I go back a couple miles and drive that section of the roadway again, this time within the speed limit?” I’m sure that police officer would be chuckling as he writes your speeding ticket.
Fortunately, when it comes to our relationship with God, He has proven to me that He alone has an unlimited supply of second chances that He mercifully distributes to we sinners. In the Bible, Jesus illustrated an example of how His Father operates regarding second chances in the Parable of the Prodigal Son [Luke 15: 11-32]. The Father was overjoyed when his son returned to him after squandering his portion of inheritance. The Father welcomed his son back home, forgave the error of his ways, and celebrated the son’s return of his senses. The Father gave him a second chance to be a good son. The son didn’t squander that opportunity again.
Let’s face it; if God only gave each of us one chance in our life to always do the right thing and never mess up, make a mistake, or commit a sin, we’d all be condemned. Jesus Christ is the only man whoever lived on this earth who has never sinned.
God’s wisdom is so divine, He doesn’t want to condemn us. He will always grant us another opportunity to correct our mistakes, turn back to Him, and follow His ways to restore the relationship. Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price for our sins forever. With this debt paid in full, when God bestows His forgiveness for our sins, they are wiped off the slate and forgotten from His memory as if they never existed. As long as we repent of our sins, we can rest assured in our inheritance of everlasting life.
Unlimited second chances are our saving grace in our relationship with God. The daily challenge for each one of us is to stay focused on God’s will, His ways, and remember this principle in our relationships with others in this world. Doing so will enable us to reduce the number of second chances we need bestowed on us this side of heaven.
Live, Learn, and Grow in Jesus!!
Blessings,
Jerry
