Did you ever need a do-over when you were
a kid? You know, you’re playing tennis
or golf and you make a flub and ask your opponent for another chance – a
do-over. I had to ask for one a few
times.
Do you sometimes need a do-over in
life? You know, we just can’t seem to
get it right day after day. We mess up,
we fall down, we louse things up, or we blunder and fall flat on our faces?
A do-over is a handy gift to
receive.
Know what?
God is offering you a do-over. He is offering grace and forgiveness and a
chance to try again, to make things new once again. When we come to God with the attitude of
repentance and ask for a new start, we get a do-over. We get to start from where we are. He forgets the past, and we begin again with
a clean slate.
God has done that for me time and
again. That is amazing to me. If I were God I’d put me on a leash and after, say, 13 times I’d cut me off and say, “Bad
boy. Can’t you learn anything? You are banished from my presence
forever. There!”
But not God.
And what about the invitation. Time and again God invites us to be with him,
to come to him, to dwell with him, to dine with him, to be a partaker with
him.
Oops, we wandered away. God says, “That’s
okay. Come on back.”
Oops, we broke our vows, again. God says, “I
will forgive.”
Oops, we lost our sobriety or we relapsed
for the 17th time. God says, “Come to me; try again. I will give you rest.”
Again and again we are reminded of God’s
forbearance, His love, His patience, His goodness and His mercy.
Time and again we are invited back into
the arms of God, regardless of how we smell, how we think, how we live or have
lived, or what our nationality might be.
We are received time and again.
Amazing.
AMAZING!
Has God lost His common sense?
Never!
He never says “ I've had it with you, you low life.”
No.
As Anne Lamott says in Help Thanks Wow, “We get to keep starting over.
What a concept.
A God who invites us back in over and
over, again and again.
That is a God I can trust.
Please watch this:
Crystal Lewis Come Just As You Are
Here is a passage from the Bible that
speaks to this topic.
Matthew
11:28-30
28“Come to me, all
you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take
my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and
you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and
my burden is light.”
My Prayer
for You:
God:
Your invitation is for all of us. That is amazing.
You invite us, good threads or rags,
money in the bank or flat broke, smile on our face or sad frown, and whether
we’ve got it all together or if we’re falling apart.
Your invitation is genuine. We can trust your outstretched hand. We can trust your heart of compassion.
We can trust you God. And we receive your invitation.
We receive all the love, all the
forgiveness, all the changes you bring, and all the revelations and revolutions
you want to make in our lives.
We accept your invitation to come again
and again.
Thank you God.
Amen.
P Michael
Biggs
Offering Hope
Encouragement Inspiration
One Word at a Time
Beautiful....Indeed the Cross calls all of us to "Come Just As You Are". He welcomes us regardless of our circumstances or our sin. The cross is the leveling point of life....and we CAN come to Him "Again and Again". Thanks for the reminder.
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