Wednesday, June 12, 2002
Our three-year-old grandson was talking with his grandmother on the phone. And all was well. Then he handed the phone over to his Mom and took off across the room to play. Suddenly, Grandma heard him crying in the background. He had tripped over something and actually he had fallen pretty hard. Nothing serious, but he was hurting. Well, he walked back over to Mom and he cried through his tears – “I want to rewind and talk to Grandma!”
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Rewinding Your Fall.”
Our grandson is definitely a child of the VCR Age – when he has a bad fall, he wants to rewind to before the fall. Well, so do some of us. We’ve had some falls – spiritually, morally – and we wish we could rewind and do it over. Obviously, we can’t. But, in a way, God does offer us an opportunity to rewind our falls to get back to where we were before we fell.
His plan for recovering is spelled out in 1 John 1:9, our word for today from the Word of God. Here’s what He says: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” God says that recovering from a fall begins with “confessing your sins.” The Greek word for “confess” actually means “agreeing with God” about your sin – you call it what He does, you treat it as seriously as He does. To confess, you have to admit you’re wrong ... you have to understand the seriousness of what you did in light of the price Jesus paid for it on the cross ... and you determine to turn your back on living that way.
And what does God do when you get serious about your sin? First, He forgives it the Bible says. He erases all traces of it from His "videotape" in heaven, taking away any guilt for what you’ve done. Now, you may still feel guilty, but the Judge of the universe is ready to treat you as if you never did that sin. But God does better than just forgiving, as amazing as that is. He “purifies” you too. That means you’re not only forgiven, but you’re totally clean. God’s “shower” washes off all the dirt and mud you fell into and you emerge clean in His eyes. You do not ever have to be defined by your fall again. Heaven says it’s over.
In the words of Hebrews 10:17, “Their sins …I will remember no more!” There is no more beautiful picture of how God rewinds our falls than the return of the Prodigal Son to his father. This one who had wasted everything his father had given him, who had gone to the depths of depravity, returns home saying, “I will … go back to my father and I will say to him: ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.’” Amazingly, not only does his father run to meet him and welcome him home, but he treats him like a son who has never been gone. That’s exactly what God wants to do for you - if you’ll turn around today and come home to Him. Your fall is not final. You can be fully forgiven – and fully restored.
You’ve fallen down. You’ve thought you could never get up - you couldn’t rewind and ever get back to where you were with Jesus. Oh, but you can – because of His amazing grace. Come on home.