How many times have you heard that before? Or said that before? How often to you believe it? I suppose it depends on the circumstances, but the reality is a lot of people ask for a second chance. Some of us grant that second chance without hesitation, while others deny people the opportunity no matter how sincere they appear. The former likely believe the person will turn it around this time, while the latter have seen the scenario play out too many times before.
A small group of us gathered in the boardroom at Grace Baptist Church of Blue Bell a few Sundays ago to discuss the idea of second chances. This is a challenging topic as all of us come to the table with aired experiences, but thankfully we also come together in Christian fellowship.
So what does the Bible tell us about second chances? The Bible includes many stories of second chances. We learn from Peter, who denied Jesus, and Paul, who punished Christians before his conversion to Christianity, that getting a second chance can make a profound difference in one's life. During our discussion we were reminded it is the grace of God that allows us to move ahead in life, find our talents and exercise them. People seeking a second chance need help recognizing their talents. More importantly they need to be held accountable to avoid making the same mistakes over and over again. I'm sure you can think of people who have done remarkable things with a second chance. those people were likely driven to make the most of their talents.
You can probably think of people who have squandered their second, third and fourth chances. We have to be careful not to pass judgement in these situations. Our role as Christians is to listen, offer advice and help others whenever we're able. By definition, Christianity is a second chance for humanity. One of the our members shared how our daily decisions gives us the opportunity to fill our time with our talents to maximize our strengths and minimize our weaknesses. All of us will succumb to our weaknesses from time to time. when that happens we need our family, friends and church to support us and hold us accountable. To offer praise and forgiveness with with accountability is allowing us to move ahead and focus on our talents.
Imagine if you made a habit of filling your time focusing on your talents. What kind of difference would that make in your life? For your family? For your job? Writing these words was my way of exercising my talent. Whether you like what I wrote or not doesn't matter nearly as much as the fact you've read this far. I'm hoping you're willing to take the next step and consider joining us next time. I have no idea where our discussion will take us but if you want to join the conversation, or just listen in, we'll be back in the boardroom next Sunday at 9:30 AM.
No comments:
Post a Comment