LEFTOVERS
Are They Being Wasted?
~ He is the God Who salvages all things and allows nothing to go to waste ~
January 13th, 2023
DO-OVERS
Psalm 1: ‘How well God must like you—you don’t walk in the ruts of those blind-as-bats, you don’t stand with the good-for-nothings, you don’t take your seat among the know-it-alls. Instead, you thrill to God’s Word, you chew on Scripture, day and night. You’re a tree replanted in Eden, bearing fresh fruit every month,
never dropping a leaf, always in blossom. You’re not at all like the wicked, who are mere windblown dust—without defense in court, unfit company for innocent people. God charts the road you take. The road they take leads to nowhere.’ (MSG)
Life is precious. Before we know it, it can be gone. A person doesn’t have to die to have his life end prematurely, to be over way too soon. In fact, it is my opinion, that our lives can come to a screeching halt way too early…the moment we step into the circle of a wrong crowd, bed down with a person who is not healthy for us, take the first drag, drink the first sip, swallow the first pill, snort the first line, turn on the first video. We might not die, but our dreams will, our hopes do, our plans have, our entire futures can—just by a momentary and fleeting decision we make which we are unable to undo.
We are not given many do-overs in life. How many times I wished for one, I prayed for one, I pleaded for one, I needed one. You know, something befalls us, and we immediately whisper, ‘If I could only go back to before…’ or ‘ How I wish I could do that over…’ or ‘If I had it to do all over again, I wouldn’t…’ Sometimes, we even wish it for loved ones. We wish for a do-over for them, a way to undo what has been done, a chance and then a second chance—or maybe even a fifth—for someone we care for to not have to walk the path laid out ahead of them. Seldom, are there do-overs in this life given to us.
Almighty God, a loving Father, knew that about you and me. That we would make mistakes, transcribed sometimes with irreversible consequences, and yet a Holy God cannot look the other way or cast a spell that causes our poor choices to go ‘POOF!” or continue to allow all the wrong to appear right. That is why He sent His one and only unique Son to rescue us from ourselves—essentially the Do-Over for which we pleaded. He became the propitiation for our sins. Propitiation is defined as ‘a situation where a person who has done something wrong, wishes to regain the favor of someone which they have lost’. We are often unable to do over the choices we made, the decisions we decided, our actions and weaknesses, but a loving Father gave His Son on our behalf so we could choose change, seek forgiveness, and make an about-face heading to a different destination. Don’t waste your leftovers. Let them be remade into something delicious and delectable, recovered and salvageable.
John 6:12-13, ‘When the people had eaten their fill, He said to His disciples, “Gather the LEFTOVERS so nothing is wasted.” They went to work and filled twelve large baskets with LEFTOVERS from the barley loaves.’ (MSG)
