“If I could go back and do it all over again.” How often have we heard that? How many times have we perhaps spoken those words ourselves? Getting a second chance. Having the opportunity to do or say things differently. Getting the chance to erase from the history of our life some of the mistakes we have made. Having the opportunity to go back, relive those moments, and do so without the blunders. Oh, to have such control of time.
God — Who is not bound by time since He is eternal — has done some interesting things with time. We read of the sun standing still while Joshua led in the defeat of the Amorites. (Joshua 10:12-14) As a sign to Hezekiah (for the increase of his days and the deliverance from the hand of the king of Assyria) God caused the shadow of the sun to go back ten steps. (Isaiah 38:1-8) In view of such changes, could it be possible to have the chance to alter time and completely remove the blots of the past?
Though time’s flow was interrupted by God in the ways noted above, there is no mention of opportunity nor ability to redo anything already done. What these examples merely reveal is how time could be affected for the purpose of the current situation or regarding the future. The past remains in the past where, to us, it is untouchable. We cannot change the history of the past. (Even all the movies or TV programs I have seen which fictitiously took people back in time always seemed to emphasize a warning about any alterations to past history.) Time keeps on slipping into the future.
However, God has provided a means for dealing with the past. The power of His redemption and forgiveness is able to reach into the past and adequately deal with the things that trail behind us.
To a crowd gathered in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade or Portico, Peter stated. . .
“(19) Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,” (Acts 3:19 ESV)
The Greek word translated here as “blotted out” comes from “exaleipho” which means to obliterate, erase, wipe out, or blot out. It was a word used in Greek culture to refer to wiping out a memory or canceling a debt or vote or making a law void, etc. This is in contrast to another Greek word, “chiazein” (also used in reference to the canceling of a certificate of debt), which was the act of marking the Greek letter “chi” (which looks like a large “X”) across a document to void it. God, however, does not just “X” out our sins. He wipes them out as if they had never been. No wonder there is the promise of “times of refreshing” noted by Peter. (Acts 3:20)
Yes, we are imperfect beings. We have not arrived spiritually. And there will be future blunders in our life. Nevertheless, we can trust in God’s adequate provision of dealing with our sins as we press on with the focus of Paul as he stated. . .
“(13) Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, (14) I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14 ESV)
Let us move on today, trusting our future to the hands of God Who forgives completely the past and views us as His children through the perfection of Christ. By the power of God, we will survive the past as it is left there!
Have a great day TIMELY REFRESHED!
Carl
