Yesterday, Georgia and Alabama played in
the SEC Championship (yesterday from your
perspective, assuming you are reading this on
Sunday. As I write this, the game is still two
days away). A few Decembers ago, Georgia
and Alabama played in this very same game.
Like this year, Georgia was #1 in the country
at 12-0, and Alabama was coming in at 11-1.
Alabama won that game. But about a month
later, Georgia got another shot at them, this
time in the National Championship. Georgia
won that latter game. They had gotten a
second chance.
How many times in our lives have we said
or done something and desperately desired
another chance, in order to make things right?
Yet our world is a cruel and seductive place
that rarely hands out second chances. This
world can be terribly unforgiving.
God, however, is not that way. He is the
God who, through Jesus Christ, gives us a
second chance. With the blood of Jesus
Christ, we are cleansed. And, according to
John in 1 John 1:7-9, that forgiving blood
continues to work in our lives as we walk in
Christ. God goes beyond second chances.
God continually offers us forgiveness and
wholeness as we live our lives for him.
Also, God demands of us the same
consideration for one another. Remember
Peter’s question in Matthew 18, asking
how often we should forgive one another?
Jesus’s response to Peter’s seemingly
lavish offer of “seven times,” was, “I do not
say to you seven times, but seventy-seven
times.” In other words, Jesus told Peter—
and us—to grant forgiveness to one
another in imitation of the God who
lavishes us with His forgiveness. God calls
upon us to give second chances—and
beyond—just as we have been given them.
–Ricky