Second Chances
My Cousin Rachel
A little while ago I came across a line from the novel ‘My Cousin Rachel’, written by Daphne du Maurier entitled. The book was written in 1951 and has been followed in more recent times by a movie of the same name, which was released in 2017. I must confess that I haven’t read the book or seen the movie so I can’t really recommend either. But it was the following line that got my attention:
“There is no going back in life, no return, no second chance. I cannot call back the spoken word or the accomplished deed”.
This is a profound and thought-provoking statement, and it caused me to reflect on my own life. There are things that I have said that I wish I hadn’t. There are things that I have done that I wish I hadn’t. And there is an element of truth in what is communicated by this quote. Try as I might, I cannot call back the spoken word or the accomplished deed. There is no going back in life to try and alter reality, even if I wanted to.
God disagrees
Although the God of the Bible would agree that we cannot go back in life, and that we cannot call back the spoken word or the accomplished deed, there is yet some untruth here. The God of the Bible would not agree with the statement that there is no return. He would not agree with the sentiment that there is no second chance. This is because the wonderful truth that the Bible reveals about God is that he is the God of the second chance. And he is the God of the twenty-second, forty-second, and one hundred and fifty-second chance. With him there is the opportunity of, and even the invitation to, return.
If we are honest with ourselves we have all said and done things that we wished we hadn’t. God knows all about them and yet the good news is that he gives us a second chance. Have a listen to another line from another book:
… where sin increased, grace increased all the more
(The Bible – Romans 5:20).
There is a second chance
That is what the God of the Bible is like. He has shown us that this is what he is like in Jesus Christ and his death on the cross. He is a God of grace. He is a God of super-abundant grace. He is a God of grace over and above all that we might have said or done. And this God invites us, and calls on us, to return to him and know the blessing of a second chance.