Second Chances

There is a scene from the movie City Slickers, where one of the characters, Phil, is having a bit of a meltdown.  He's lost his wife, his job, his family- really, his manhood.  The other characters try to buoy his spirits, but nothing is working.  Finally, Mitch, Phil's friend since childhood, reminds him of a phrase they used often while playing baseball and a ball got hit to some place they couldn't retrieve it from.  "Do over."  Basically, that one didn't count, so do it again.  Forget it, and move on.

I use the terminology of chances- we all get a first chance, and if we're fortunate, a second, third, etc.

God had chances.  His first chance was Adam.  Things were going good, so He made Eve.  Things were still going well, so God left them alone in the Garden with one warning- don't eat from that tree.  Others are fine, but not that tree.  Of course, we know they ate from the tree, with a little prompting from the Serpent, and the First Chance started down the tubes.

God set out to save it with the Law.  He told Man how to gain redemption- and man, was it hard.  It seemed impossible.  Yet, Man took God's difficult Law and made it harder. 

God made Man with free will.  Man made bad choices.  God made the Law to rescue Man from bad choices.  Man made the Law God.

And so, God's First Chance ended.

You'd think He'd give up- all the heart-ache Man caused Him.  But He didn't.  See, Man was good, somewhere.  And the Law was good, as God intended before Man perverted it and it's intent.

God needed a do-over.

But, rather than forget all that had gone before, He built on what was Good.  He would marry the Law and the Man into One- the Christ, the Messiah.  Man would need not keep all the Law so rigorously, because the Man-Law would fulfill all the obligation.  The Man-Law must be fully Man- but He must also be fully God. 

So, God gave His Son.

Jesus is the Second Chance for mankind.  The Do-Over.  Where Adam failed, Jesus succeeded.  He honored God down to His last, painfully uttered words that speak volumes:  "It is finished."

You and I- all of us who have accepted this sacrifice Jesus made for us- have entered into the Second Chance.  The new life, the second Adam.  Had Jesus just died, our sins would be covered.  But because He lives, because the story didn't end on Friday, but just began on Sunday, we are forgiven and able to be more alive than ever.  We are free, free to begin again.

Now, if we have accepted Christ, we can begin.  But each day, each trial we endure, is a chance to re-embrace that Second Chance.  Lost a job?  Lost a loved one?  Contracted an illness?  Experienced failure?  All reasons to go back to Christ.

Just like when things are good is an excellent time to embrace the Second Chance.

Maybe things have been tough on you lately.  Maybe life has kicked you in the rear- or the teeth- and you just want to give up, to quit. 

Go ahead.

Die to that old way.  Die to those trials.  Give them to God, get counseling, talk to the problem maker, have a good cry, open up to the friend.  End the first chance, and embrace the opportunity to start over.

Live your Second Chance as only you can.

As only Christ makes possible.