I think all us email users can agree on this: often, there is no better button on our keyboard than ‘delete’.
“Earn your degree while you earn a living!” DELETE.
“Browse local Asian singles near you!” DELETE.
“Prepare for a job in law enforcement!” DELETE.
(Ever notice how these spammers are addicted to exclamation marks?)
“Don’t pay your next cable bill without reading this!” DELETE.
As we go through this routine, it occurs to me that most of us probably wish we could whack a delete key on some things that we’ve done and said. Or things we should have done & said, but didn’t.
- I’d love to erase the hurtful things I’ve said to my wife.
- I wish I could delete those times I’ve cut off other drivers.
- I’d sure like to wipe out all those negative thoughts I’ve had about my abilities.
- I wish I could delete those times when I’ve reacted hastily without getting all the facts.
- Wouldn’t it be great to erase that dumb thing I did at work last week?
For people like me, who’ve decided to follow Jesus of Nazareth (who many people believe is the Son of God), there’s a great thing to know and make a part of our lives: God’s favourite button is also DELETE.
The mistakes I’ve made? Gone. Those times I should have said something helpful to a co-worker, but simply walked away silent? Wiped out. That relationship that went sour because of me? Eliminated.
How about you? The contractor you paid under the table to avoid taxes? It could be gone. Those nasty things you’ve thought or said about your relative? They could be wiped out.
How far can this go? If you believe in a creator who cares about everything that goes on in our lives, then all the way to something this trivial: all the occasions when I carelessly deposited perfectly recyclable things into the garbage? Deleted.
How do I know this? Well, consider these words from an ancient Jesus follower: “Jesus was offered as a sacrifice one time to take away the sins of many people.”
One of those people is me. And it could be YOU, too.
If you accept this sacrifice, another ancient Jesus follower wrote “There is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.”
As a pastor friend, Adrian van Giessen, told people once, “When you belong to Jesus, then all the stuff that God can look at and say ‘you did this and you did that,’ he wipes it away and says, ‘I see you as I see Jesus’.”
I looooooove having God see me, with all my glow-in-the-dark imperfections, just as He sees His Son: perfect, without a single blemish. It empowers me to do better, to try to live up to how God sees me – even as I know that when I fall short, He hits the DELETE key, because, as Adrian put it, I “belong to Jesus”.
What do you think…does this make sense? Post a comment below and let’s have a conversation.
Frank's Cottage 