Today's Christian lesson is on re-do's. In His infinite Grace, God knows that we on this earth are massive screw-ups. We make mistakes, blunder plenty, say things we do not mean to, get angry and upset, lose patience, and sometimes even offend God and the Holy Spirit. We are a nasty lot on this wonderful planet that God created for us, and so in His Divine wisdom as our Heavenly Father, God gives us an infinite number of retries or re-do's or do-overs to get it right. He is patient with us, as a father is with his son or daughter.
In the Old Testament, we read that God's people Israel would worship Him for a while, then become hard-hearted, calloused, sinful, complacent, arrogant and bitter complainers, and turn away from worshiping God, only to fall into various and sundry difficulties, persecution, capture, and exile, only to once again lament, and fall before God. God's mercy would once again be shown to them and they would repent and turn from their wicked ways to follow the one true Living God. Those who would not turn would be destroyed, but those who lamented, repented and turned from their evil ways were always embraced and taken back by God. God was merciful and just, and patient, just as a father is to his children.
In the New Testament we find a similar theme with Jesus who, instead of condemning people, gives them many chances to repent, turn away from their sin, and come to saving Faith in Him.
In the episode of the woman caught in adultery we read "But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” John 8:7-11
In the episode of the healing of the paralytic, Jesus forgives the sins of, and heals a paralyzed man: "Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’” They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him." John 5:2-15
When Jesus was teaching his disciples, "Then came Peter to him, and asked, Lord, how often shall my brother (anyone) sin against me, and I forgive him? upto seven times? Jesus said to him, I say not unto thee, not upto seven times: but, upto seventy times seven." Matthew 18:21-22
As Jesus was being crucified, "One of the criminals who was hanged next to him, asked, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:39-43 Hanging on the Cross, for something He did not do, unjustly punished and tortured to death for our sins, Jesus forgives the thief nailed to the cross next to Him and tells him that he will be with him in Heaven. How much is that not a second chance?
He is a God of many re-do's and second and third and fourth and fifth and sixth and seventh chances....even up to seventy times seven. His Grace and Mercy outlast our biggest foul-ups and screw-ups.
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23
In the Old Testament, we read that God's people Israel would worship Him for a while, then become hard-hearted, calloused, sinful, complacent, arrogant and bitter complainers, and turn away from worshiping God, only to fall into various and sundry difficulties, persecution, capture, and exile, only to once again lament, and fall before God. God's mercy would once again be shown to them and they would repent and turn from their wicked ways to follow the one true Living God. Those who would not turn would be destroyed, but those who lamented, repented and turned from their evil ways were always embraced and taken back by God. God was merciful and just, and patient, just as a father is to his children.
In the New Testament we find a similar theme with Jesus who, instead of condemning people, gives them many chances to repent, turn away from their sin, and come to saving Faith in Him.
In the episode of the woman caught in adultery we read "But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” John 8:7-11
In the episode of the healing of the paralytic, Jesus forgives the sins of, and heals a paralyzed man: "Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’” They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him." John 5:2-15
When Jesus was teaching his disciples, "Then came Peter to him, and asked, Lord, how often shall my brother (anyone) sin against me, and I forgive him? upto seven times? Jesus said to him, I say not unto thee, not upto seven times: but, upto seventy times seven." Matthew 18:21-22
As Jesus was being crucified, "One of the criminals who was hanged next to him, asked, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:39-43 Hanging on the Cross, for something He did not do, unjustly punished and tortured to death for our sins, Jesus forgives the thief nailed to the cross next to Him and tells him that he will be with him in Heaven. How much is that not a second chance?
He is a God of many re-do's and second and third and fourth and fifth and sixth and seventh chances....even up to seventy times seven. His Grace and Mercy outlast our biggest foul-ups and screw-ups.
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23
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