Do Over

I remember as a teenager playing
video games with my friends. I would go
over to a friend’s house and we would play for hours. My friends and I had a bad habit of deciding
when we would get a “do over”. So the
scenario would go something like this, I would be losing in the 4th
quarter of Tecmo Bowl and it would be clear that I would not win, so…I would
hit the reset button, and deprive my buddy of a victory and the slate was
clean. We would proceed to wrestling on
the floor, words would be exchanged and we do it all over again.
I can appreciate the opportunities
in life for “do over’s”. Do over’s don’t
often come easy and are rarely ever rewarded to us. In life that is not as trivial as say a video
game, pick up basket ball, or a practice of some sort, do over’s are hard to come
by and coveted when received. Do over’s are
hard because they come with a price but God’s grace allows us to have
redemption.
So here we stand on the brink of a
new year and for many it holds the possibility for a host of “do over’s” to
take place in our life. We place some
mystical aura around the numbers as if to say that the year it’s self will
bring new and good fortune. The secular
world looks to numerological forecasts to see what the New Year may hold and
though we may not espouse to believing in such rubbish, practically we have a
tendency to think along those lines.
With a new year come all the
resolutions to eat better, exercise, reach out to an estranged family member,
make amends with a co-worker, or read our Bibles more. We often find our self struggling to stay
committed to our resolution or just giving up altogether. I think we struggle to stay resolute because
sin is a real thing. This may sound
simple at first glace but I think when embarking on a “do over” we fail often
to come to grips with and repent of the sin that has caused us to fail.
The idea of repentance that is
shown to us in God’s Word reveals to us the concept of “wages” for sin. You put in X amount of hours at work you get
Y dollars for the work completed. The
concept is similar with sin. It is like
holes in a barn door, you can remove the nails from the door but the holes
still remain. Christ’s work on the cross
has removed the condemnation for sin but the consequences still remain. The Lord will forgive me for over eating but
at the end of the day, I’m still a big boy.
I will have to work diligently ever day to drop the weight but the first
thing I need to do is repent of the sin of gluttony. We like to skip past the repentance part and
get straight to the “do over”, and in essence we are trying to make little of
the sin that got us in a tight spot and remove God from the equation.
We need God’s great grace in order
to receive a “do over”. In 2 Corinthians
12:9 Paul shares this word with us, “And
He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect
in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I
will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon
me.” He is speaking here about the
infirmities, needs, weakness and persecutions we face. The individual who owns up to their sin and
is repentant can have full confidence that Christ died for their sins and that
work on the Cross was “sufficient” for all their needs. We fail to remain resolved because our hope
is often in our own abilities.
I pray that 2012 is filled with
great triumphs over sin in the life of individuals and our church as a
whole. I often lament the reality that
many of our church folk are unwilling to repent of sin openly to each
other. My prayer is that we all take
advantage of our opportunities for “do over’s” this year. We will need each other to remain
accountable. Share you’re burdens with
each other this year and rely on God’s grace to give you strength to be all
that God desires you to be.