When You Need a Do-Over

 

I’m not the best golfer.

I’ve been known to hit a wild shot off the first tee, turn to my friends, and say, “How about a mulligan?”

Maybe you know what that’s like. You’ve made a mess of something…a relationship, a job, your finances. And you’d really like a do-over—a chance to try again with no consequences from the first try.

There are no mulligans in real life.

What’s happened has happened. We can’t undo it.

But guess what? There’s still hope in spite of the failures, in spite of the ways you’ve missed the mark.

Wherever life has taken you, however far from God or close to him you feel today, God is in the business of making things new. We know from the Bible that Jesus promises to comfort the brokenhearted and to set free those held captive by shame and brokenness.

God promises to restore us, to make us strong, firm, and steadfast. Because when our identities are rooted in Christ, we can be confident in something beyond our own abilities.

It’s like what the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “If anyone’s in Christ, they are a new creation. Old things have passed away. All things are being made new.”

What that means is the mistakes in your past are a reality. But God doesn’t hold those mistakes against you.

Psalm 103:12 teaches that as far as the east is from the west, so far has God removed our transgressions from us. I absolutely love that verse! If anyone is in Christ, it doesn’t matter what your background is, it doesn’t matter where you’ve been, it doesn’t matter what you’ve done. God doesn’t view you from the lens of your mistakes––He sees you wrapped in the love and righteousness of Jesus.

This is all possible because God initiated a relationship with us, not the other way around.

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever would believe in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life.”

AND, can we talk about the fact that the verse doesn’t say that God loved His creation, it says He so loved His creation? That’s a big difference!

Because God loves the world so much, He gave His own Son, His one and only Son. He sent Jesus on a rescue mission for people who failed.

People like me.

People like you.

He gave His Son, and Jesus died on the cross in our place, to forgive us for all the mistakes we made…That’s a crazy, deep love.

All of this combines to form the beautiful reality of what the Bible calls being born again.

And that’s what we believe God has done in your life, as you receive Jesus as the Lord of your life and the forgiver of your soul.

The Apostle Paul says this in Romans 10:9-10: “For if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Don’t live stuck in the past because of mistakes you’ve made. Step into the freedom and forgiveness Jesus has for you today.