"Come
now, let us settle the matter," says the Lord. "Though
your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
--
Isaiah 1:18
It was a mistake that would have
meant the end of the story for most athletes.
During the 10,000-meter race at
the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, Finnish runner Lasse Viren tripped
and fell after his feet tangled with those of American gold medalist Frank
Shorter. Both athletes crumpled to the track. But then Viren did the unthinkable:
he got off the ground, resumed the race and caught the runners who had passed
him. And then on the race's final lap--he not only passed his competitors--he
literally left them in the dust and crossed the finish line alone. Many
sportswriters consider Viren's performance to be one of the greatest comebacks
in Olympic history.
Maybe your own mistakes aren't of
Olympic proportions. But maybe they felt like
it at the time. How often have we all made such huge errors in life that it seemed like the
end of the world? We thought we had completely blown it. It was all over. And we'd never
come back.
Olympic proportions. But maybe they felt like
it at the time. How often have we all made such huge errors in life that it seemed like the
end of the world? We thought we had completely blown it. It was all over. And we'd never
come back.
Life-changing mistakes can cover
a lot of territory. They might involve our personal relationships, careers or
spiritual lives...and maybe even all of the above. But the good news for
Christ-followers is that we worship a God who not only knows what we're going
through, we have a Father who cares enough to literally know the number of
hairs on our head! We can also rest in the assurance that He's a God of second
(and third and fourth, etc.) chances.
We surely can use every one of
them. And since Christ-followers are a forgiven people, we must in turn
extend this amazing grace to those who have hurt us. The Apostle Peter learned this
lesson after asking Jesus, "How
many times should I forgive someone who does something wrong to me? Is seven
times enough?" His Master responded, "Not just seven times, but
seventy-seven times!"
When it's difficult to forgive
others after they've offended us, it's time to consider God's patience when we
desperately need our own comeback. It's in Matthew's Gospel that we read Jesus'
parable about a man who received forgiveness for a large debt, but was still
bound in a personal prison of anger. His wounded soul was incapable of
healing...and he was unable to release another's relatively small debt to
him. That's why it's so good to know that when we accept Jesus as our Lord
and Savior, we're forgiven of a lifetime's-worth of mistakes, failures and
shortcomings. And we're also free from their eternal consequences.
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