Do-overs are Awesome!

Don’t you love that concept of “Do-over”?  Don’t you wish sometimes in life after you’ve just messed up big-time that you could just yell, “Wait!  Do-over!”  and everything would reset for you just the way it was before you messed up?  Wouldn’t that be great? 

You say something you really didn’t mean to say, and you can see that your words just devastated the other person—“Wait!  Do-over!”  and the damage is instantly undone.   It’s like you never said anything at all.  Or you wreck your parent’s car and injure someone.  “Wait! Do-over!”  and zzzzzip!  You are right at the point before things went awry, and with your new-found knowledge, you can avoid the mistake and move on consequence free.  You choose differently and avoid the wreck and no one is any the wiser.

What a great concept, if a simple “Wait! Do-over!” would un-change all the bad mistakes and stupid choices we make or dumb accidents we have because we’re not paying attention.  But it’s not that simple.  There is no magic do-over rule.  For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.  Have you ever experienced that rule?  For every choice you make, there is a consequence.  That’s the rule.  If you want good consequences, you have to make good choices.  But if you make bad choices, there are bad consequences to have to deal with.  That’s life!

Some of you, this morning, are carrying heavy loads because of the choices you’ve made.  Some of you are absolutely miserable this morning deep under the surface, even though you outwardly may be smiling and joking. 

See we live two different lives.  One that is on the surface that we let everyone see, and one that is beneath the surface that we desperately try to keep hidden, except from a choice few people that we’ve learned to trust.    And you live life scared to death that someone you don’t trust might find out who you really are and not like you because of it.

You desperately long for a Do-over.  A new beginning.  One that says….ok…I  have really screwed things up in my life, but wait—do-over!!!  I just want to be at peace inside myself.  I just want to be able to look at myself in the mirror again and know that I’m an ok person.  I just want to be loved for who I am.  I want to drop this load of guilt and shame.  And I just wish I could start all over and not be so stupid and make the same mistakes.

Did you know the Bible says that there is such a thing as a do-over.  While it can’t erase all of the consequences of your sin and bad choices, it can make you appear, to God, as though you had never sinned.

1 John 1:9- If you confess your sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

Now that’s a Do-Over of epic proportions!