Second Chances....

I feel like my life has been a pattern of falling down, getting back up, taking a couple of steps and following down again....sometimes those falls cause me to get some rug burns, other times bruised knees, and sometimes it makes me just want to give up.

I see in John 21:15-25 where Jesus reinstates Peter. The irony is the fact that the gospels ends with this message at hand. In our failures, Christ is able to reinstate us...and the fact is not b/c we deserve it, but because Jesus loves us.

So in the culmination of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, this story wraps it up as the last message and often those last things you say are the most powerful and potent words.

It is not this glorious chance of being more sucessful in the world's eyes that Jesus grants Peter, but it is the opportunity to show Jesus that he loves Him. Isn't that interesting...that it isn't about the accomplishments, it isn't about how sucessful you are, but in the end, those relationships are the things that matter and they matter to Jesus.

Even in the midst of the conversation, Jesus gives Peter a glimpse of what an opportunity to love Christ would cost him. v. 18-19 paint a costly picture of that....but when in love, the cost does not matter.

I've been reading this book called Crazy Love by Francis Chan, and it comes with this idea that our life and our response to Christ comes from a deep well of love that is replenished by every glimpse of the Cross...

As I look forward to this life, it is learning to depend on Christ work in me and through me, knowing that even in the times I fall, He always reinstates me, He always gives me a second chance, and perhaps that is the greatest lesson to be learned through the gospels. Jesus' grace is more than enough....not to aim for success necessarily, but to be reconciled to Christ no matter how great our sins are....they are never too great to separate us from the love of Christ.

Jesus is not looking for results, but He's looking for love, and perhaps that is the continual paradigm shift I must seek in my own life. I'm not here to produce results for an organzition or grow a better resume, but it is learning to love and learning to offer Christ example to reinstate those and to reconcile those to Christ. This is my call, this is my responsibility and I won't ever be able to grow to that point until I truly believe in the reinstatement that Christ has done for me, each moment of failure, becomes the catalyst of growth into another moment of grace....

The dryness of our throats desiring an unquenchable grace to fill us, so they we might not become insecure, but find true security in knowing that Jesus is always with us, guiding us, providing for us, and leading us...no need to fear, for He's always with me and will never forsake me.

Reinstate me Jesus to be reconciled to Your heart and lay my sins at the foot of the cross so the guilt and shame would be washed away and all I would see is your face.... for I know even a glimpse will change for me for eternity. This is my cry....this is my prayer!