Take-Two! 

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Romans 3: 23-24

The wonderful thing about our God is that no matter how many times we fail or make mistakes, He gives us another chance. Phew!

Just imagine if every scene of a film had to be shot flawlessly, in one single take, with no other chance to capture the scene the way the director intended it to be! Thankfully, like in the making of a film, our Creator gives us more than one chance to get it right and our lives here on earth can be redeemed.

We need to be constantly reminded of the forgiving nature of God and helped to truly understand and apply what His forgiveness means for us. This is why we regularly take the opportunity to confess our sins and take communion during our services. There are stories of God in the Old Testament that demonstrate His judgement of sin, like the flood that God sent and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah because of His intolerance of wickedness. When we don’t truly know God, we often don’t understand this side of God’s character and we fear or reject Him. Sometimes we feel these stories are licence to judge or punish others in the name of God. But when we discover the full nature of God, the God of love, the God who always offers a way out of our sin, the God who sent His own Son to pay the price for all our sin and wrongdoing, we know that He is both a God of justice and forgiveness.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Amazingly, we are forgiven! The price for all our sins and failures has been paid by Jesus. God’s judgement on us has been redirected to the cross. We don’t deserve it and we continue to make mistakes, but God continues to forgive us. Hallelujah!

In Christ, like the final cut of a film, we are perfect and as our Creator intended us to be.

Let’s pray: Father God, thank you for your forgiveness and for sending your Son to pay the price for us. Help us to continue receiving your gift of forgiveness and help us to see ourselves through your eyes not our own. Amen