“The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.” 2 Peter 3:9
Thomas Edison is well known for many inventions. None may be as well-known or important as the electric light bulb. This combination of metal and glass revolutionized the lifestyle of the entire world. Today, we can buy multiple bulbs at the store of all sizes and wattages. However, the first bulbs were not so easily made...in fact it took a team of men an entire 24 hour day to produce one bulb. The story goes that Edison handed one of these early bulbs to a young boy helper to carry up the stairs. Obviously, the boy tried his best to be careful with this priceless object. He watched every single step... but at the second to last stair, he tripped. The bulb slipped from his grasp and shattered to the floor. An entire day...hundreds of man-hours...gone.
Some of us are in the same boat. It seems that no matter how hard we try, our lives seem to shatter. We don’t mean to hurt people with our words... or disappoint our family... or give in to that addiction... or let our quiet time with God lapse... it just happens. We may feel like giving up. We may feel like we aren’t usable by God anymore... shattered, broken, and useless. If you feel like (or have felt like) that, then today’s verse was written specifically for you...
We serve a patient God. While we do face consequences for poor choices, God waits for us to understand what we have done, claim responsibility for it, and pray that we would be forgiven. This last step, repentance, is critical in our relationship with God. Not only do we have to know that we’ve hurt someone, we need to own it, and seek genuine forgiveness through prayer from our Heavenly Father. Scripture says that when we do, He excuses us and separates us from our sin as far as the East is from the West... the past is forgotten and we can move forward and grow in Christ. God wants us to live lives of strength and security...not meekness and guilt. Repentance for our past is a big step on the road to our God-potential.
Edison’s assistant’s story didn’t end with the broken bulb. In fact, when the next bulb was completed... a whole day later... who was it that got to carry the bulb upstairs? That same young assistant. This time the bulb arrived intact. That boy got a second chance and it changed his life. Your second chance is one prayer of forgiveness away... are you ready?
