After the Message

(I'm going to use my blog on Sunday's from now on to do a little further reflection on the morning's message. Sometimes it might be a summary, sometimes it might be a tangent that I didn't take time to address and sometimes it might be questions for further discussion, and sometimes, well, who knows.)

Today's text was Nehemiah 8:1-10 - the Israelites are given a second chance (more like an 800th chance) to be God's people. Nehemiah leads them back to a destroyed Jerusalem and they start by rebuilding the wall around the city. In chapter 8, Nehemiah calls all of the people together and Ezra, the priest, gets up and reads from the Law of Moses. As the people listen, they dissolve into grieving and tears, realizing how far they have fallen short and how undeserving they are of God's grace. Nehemiah cuts into their tears and says, "No more grieving. The joy of the Lord is our strength, let's party."

Bottom line - Jesus gave His life so that we could have a new life. We could spend the rest of our lives feeling guilty and unworthy of this life b/c, let's face it, we are guilty and unworthy; or, we could say "thank you" and go forward with hearts and lives that are fully committed to Jesus.

I'm a fan of option #2. For starters, option #1 is miserable, and secondly, option #1 is downright sinful - who are we to shove God's incredible gift back in His face?

What would it look like in your life this week to truly embrace your second chance?

Who is it in your life that needs a second chance that you've been unwilling to give? If Jesus died for them, I'm guessing we can show some grace.