The God of Another Chance
If anyone had reason to count himself unforgivable and unredeemable, it was the apostle Peter. The fisherman-turned-disciple lived with Jesus for three years. He enjoyed a special intimacy with the Lord known only to two others -- James and John. During those years, Peter and the rest of the disciples spent hours talking with the Lord. They listened to Him share His heart. They ate with Him, watched Him raise the dead, walk on the sea, turn water to wine, and feed thousands with only a few fish and some bread.
Then things took a sharp turn. It started in the Gethsemane Garden. During the Lord's lowest hour, Peter fell asleep. When soldiers and Jewish leaders dragged Jesus before the civil and religious authorities, Peter cowered and swore, "I don't know the man." Not just once, but three times.
I'm not sure I could have recovered from that memory. If I'd been guilty of that thrice denial, my words would have echoed and re-echoed in my thoughts like rocks bouncing against cavern walls as they fell toward a dark and unreachable bottom.
Yet, the more I think about Peter's fall, the greater comfort I find -- not because of his failure, but because of his recovery. That recovery holds the key for all of us who repeatedly stumble toward the Kingdom and wonder if we can get up again.
If we should get up again.
What would the church look like today if Peter had slipped into the shadows of history overwhelmed by his shame? How much less would we understand the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ without Peter's two letters in the Bible? How much longer would it have been before Gentiles, like Cornelius and his family and friends, heard the gospel? How many first century Gentiles are in heaven today because Peter discovered, as all of us -- believer and non-believer -- must discover: God is the God of Another Chance.
The fisherman is only one of countless examples of that magnificent truth. After his sin with Bathsheba, David wrote one of the most passionate psalms of repentance in Scripture (see Psalm 51). Paul never forgot his role in Stephen's death, but he rose to bring the message of forgiveness and eternal life to a world locked in hopelessness. Despite their sins, the woman at the well found grace to start over (see John 4), the Prodigal son discovered his father's arms wide open (see Luke 15), the thief on the cross entered Paradise with his simple act of contrition (see Luke 23). History resounds with the great news that God offers another chance to everyone who repents, no matter how often they fall.
How I need to know that. How we all do. What Christian doesn't blush from a personal and intimate understanding of Paul's agony, "What I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do . . . what a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" (Romans 7:15,24)
Who, indeed?
Scripture promises. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). "As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him" (Psalm 103:13). Nothing "will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:39).
Another Chance begins each time we come to the Father, sorry for our sins and asking forgiveness based on Jesus' death for us. When all theology, philosophy, ideology and doctrine are stripped away, the Lord Jesus is the reason we can get up and start again. His matchless and enduring love for us, despite our failures, is the reason we should get up and start again.
"There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel's veins," a church hymn reminds us. "And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stain."
May the Holy Spirit help us remember our Father -- the God of Another Chance - always offers His hand of forgiveness and reconciliation to everyone who comes to Him in repentance.
We need only to lift up our eyes to see Him.
Rich
rmaffeo@comcast.net
Then things took a sharp turn. It started in the Gethsemane Garden. During the Lord's lowest hour, Peter fell asleep. When soldiers and Jewish leaders dragged Jesus before the civil and religious authorities, Peter cowered and swore, "I don't know the man." Not just once, but three times.
I'm not sure I could have recovered from that memory. If I'd been guilty of that thrice denial, my words would have echoed and re-echoed in my thoughts like rocks bouncing against cavern walls as they fell toward a dark and unreachable bottom.
Yet, the more I think about Peter's fall, the greater comfort I find -- not because of his failure, but because of his recovery. That recovery holds the key for all of us who repeatedly stumble toward the Kingdom and wonder if we can get up again.
If we should get up again.
What would the church look like today if Peter had slipped into the shadows of history overwhelmed by his shame? How much less would we understand the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ without Peter's two letters in the Bible? How much longer would it have been before Gentiles, like Cornelius and his family and friends, heard the gospel? How many first century Gentiles are in heaven today because Peter discovered, as all of us -- believer and non-believer -- must discover: God is the God of Another Chance.
The fisherman is only one of countless examples of that magnificent truth. After his sin with Bathsheba, David wrote one of the most passionate psalms of repentance in Scripture (see Psalm 51). Paul never forgot his role in Stephen's death, but he rose to bring the message of forgiveness and eternal life to a world locked in hopelessness. Despite their sins, the woman at the well found grace to start over (see John 4), the Prodigal son discovered his father's arms wide open (see Luke 15), the thief on the cross entered Paradise with his simple act of contrition (see Luke 23). History resounds with the great news that God offers another chance to everyone who repents, no matter how often they fall.
How I need to know that. How we all do. What Christian doesn't blush from a personal and intimate understanding of Paul's agony, "What I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do . . . what a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" (Romans 7:15,24)
Who, indeed?
Scripture promises. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). "As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him" (Psalm 103:13). Nothing "will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:39).
Another Chance begins each time we come to the Father, sorry for our sins and asking forgiveness based on Jesus' death for us. When all theology, philosophy, ideology and doctrine are stripped away, the Lord Jesus is the reason we can get up and start again. His matchless and enduring love for us, despite our failures, is the reason we should get up and start again.
"There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel's veins," a church hymn reminds us. "And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stain."
May the Holy Spirit help us remember our Father -- the God of Another Chance - always offers His hand of forgiveness and reconciliation to everyone who comes to Him in repentance.
We need only to lift up our eyes to see Him.
Rich
rmaffeo@comcast.net
posted by rich at
1:12 PM
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