DOING WITHOUT DO OVERS

“What is behind-a me is not-a before me!” shouted the Italian racer as he ripped the rear view mirror off the windshield, and put the pedal to the metal in one of those silly seventies rally movies. We used to quote it when heading out on family road trips, exaggerating the dialect for effect.

Most of us would like to live that way, “forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead…” as the Apostle Paul would say. But the truth is, many of us do look back, are held back emotionally and spiritually, by mistakes we’ve made in the past, things we wish we could “do over.” We don’t necessarily call them sins. We’re still uncomfortable with that verdict. But if we were honest we’d admit that most of them were. We were raging, or deceitful, or covetous, gossipy, greedy, or gluttonous. We indulged our sinful nature and it cost us. In our guilt we look for “do-overs,” ways to fix what we did wrong, or indulge melancholia in an attempt to appease God.

Trust me: God doesn’t need your melancholy. If you’re living with some left over guilt from 2010 allow me to share some encouragement for 2011. It comes from Hebrews chapter ten.

Under the old covenant, The Law of Moses, “every priest stood daily ministering and offering, time after time the same sacrifices, which could never take away sins.” (Vs. 11 paraphrased). That didn’t help much because the sacrifice of an animal was never enough to cover all sins. In fact, verse three explains, “…in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year.”

All the Law could do was to remind us of our inadequacies and encourage an eternal longing for “do overs.” But Jesus Christ, “having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD…” Sitting down is a symbol for finished work. Jesus was one and done. He made one sacrifice, himself, and it was enough. Hebrews explains that the whole Old Testament temple system was a model, a type, a shadow of the real thing in heaven. When Jesus made his sacrifice it wasn’t offered on earth alone, it was offered in the real temple, the heavenly temple. It was once for all, eternal, infinite in its ability to wipe out the sins of all who believe. In other words, the sacrifice of Christ enables all of us to do without the do overs.

So no more do overs. Grab that mirror, rip it off the windshield, and say it with me as we head off into 2011: WHAT IS BEHIND-A ME IS NOT-A BEFORE ME!