Second Chance

I've recently heard of a movie called "What If" and it's about a guy who gets a second chance in life to get things right and to mend some of the pain he caused. Don't we all wish we had a chance to do that? We all have regrets in our life, we've all caused pain to people we care about. We all wish we can mend some of the relationships we've broken. We all had the experience of wishing we could just turn back time. The reality is, sometimes in life we get second chances to mend our mistakes, other times we don't. I think this is especially true with friendship and relationship, sometimes we only get one chance to get it right.

On the other hand, we've all been hurt by someone we cared about. After we've been hurt by the person, I think most of us strive to forgive and to move on. But subconsciously as a self defense mechanism, we build up a wall to protect ourselves. We try hard to give the person a second chance, but the wall is up and it takes time to remove those bricks one at a time.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, no matter where we are currently in our life, we've all experienced both ends of the scale. We've all experienced the pain of not receiving a second chance to mend our mistake, as well as the act of not giving out that second chance to someone that hurt us.

What is incredible to me is that although sometimes with people and with situations we only have one chance to get it right, but with God, He has given us a second chance, third chance, a fourth chance...and so on. What's ironic is that out of all the people in our life, God is probably the one we hurt the most often and most deeply. There are many examples of this in the bible. When Peter denied Jesus three times, I can't imagine the pain Jesus felt in those moments. It says in Luke that after Peter's third denial, Jesus turned and looked straight at Peter, I can't even begin to picture the pain in those eyes. I don't know about you, but if I were in Jesus's situation and someone I love refused to acknowledge their relationship with me, I really don't think I would be able to give that person a second chance. But Jesus did. After He resurrected from death, He reinstated Peter and continued to use Peter for His work(John 21:15-17).

Personally, I've lost count the number of times I've disappoint God. I can't even begin to count the number of times I've hurt Him with my actions and my words. Yet He forgives me over and over, and He loves me nonetheless.

"For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him." Psalm 103:11-13

Isn't this amazing? Not only does He forgive us for hurting Him, He doesn't hold it against us either; these sins are cast as far as the east is from the west. As long as we come back to Him, He continues to give us chances over and over and over. Of course, this doesn't give us the right to abuse this grace, but we need to realize what an incredible gift this is and how hard it is to come by.