“And let the beating begin!” … at least internally. We all beat ourselves up over one thing or another. Sometimes we go out of our way in beating ourselves up. There are times that we don’t have to look very far to find an issue that will cause the beatings to begin. We live with regret and the ghosts of situations past … and the beatings begin.
Memory is a good thing and a nasty thing. Memory helps us celebrate the past, but causes unbearable pain in our situations. Thus, we live with regret. We live with failing God. We live with the feelings of “what if” and we beat ourselves up.
And then last Monday evening during share group the source of our study stated, “You cannot circumnavigate, destroy, or undo God’s purpose for your life!” Each of us, all too often, makes decisions that run counter to God’s purpose. The results of those decisions appear to place us on a non-God chosen path. And thus … the beatings begin.
The mercy and grace of God stands ever ready to pick up the pieces of our lives, put them back together again and set a new course for our life … but always in the ultimate direction that he had originally chosen for us. As one retired military man shared, “It doesn’t mean that you will still achieve the rank once aspired to, but the ultimate purpose is still realized.”
Once we embrace that reality we realize that there is nothing for us to beat ourselves up over any longer. Did we make mistakes? Yes. Did the mistakes have consequences? Yes. Is our life ruined? No. Do we have a dynamic-God-shaped future? Yes.
The choice is ours. We can either live a life of regret or a life of victory. We can either live a life that says if only or a life that celebrates possibility. We can either live by our design or a life by God’s design. We can live a life of “let the beatings begin” or a life that states “enough already” let me get on with living!
The real issue here is understanding God’s forgiveness. If God could forgive David after all the mistakes he made; if God could forgive Abraham after all the mistakes he made; if God could forgive Peter after all the mistakes he made … and use each of them in such a dynamic and unbelievable way then certainly God can forgive and use the likes of you and me. Therein lies the real hope and the promise of the empty tomb … resurrection is embracing life when all things look hopeless and dead. God has the last word!
Quote for today: The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it. ~Richard L. Evans
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