May 30, 2023
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There's reality TV. And then there's the real reality TV called the Olympics. And, you know, when you watch that, you see the real deal. I mean, you've got the triple axles on the ice, you've got amazing jumps on the ski slopes, you've got those gravity-defying flights of the snowboarders. Oh, yeah, and the falls and the crashes.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Replaying Your Falls."
I'm fine with showing the good stuff again and again. It's the replays of what they did wrong that bother me. Probably because I've been working with young people and their families for so long. And, over and over, I've seen the damage that's done when parents keep replaying their children's mistakes. Sometimes too seldom replaying what their son or daughter did right.
Consequently, there are a lot of young people who know very well what's wrong with them. But they have a hard time thinking what's right with them, so they don't feel like they're worth much. They act like they're not worth much. You can see it in the friends they choose, the music they listen to, the way they retreat into themselves. The things they'll do for attention. For just a few minutes of feeling better about themselves.
Oh, there's a lot that goes into our feelings of value or worthlessness. But we moms and dads, we have life-shaping power like nobody else. Our son or daughter's perception of how much we think they're worth is a huge factor in how much they think they're worth.
Too often, we use the replays of our kids' shortcomings to somehow get them to change, to do better just to vent our frustrations. And yet, how many of us still carry in our head those critical, negative words that our parents said over and over to us? They still hurt. They're still part of our adult struggle to feel right about ourselves. What was constantly replayed by our parents has shaped our life. And so it is with our children. It's part of the legacy we leave them, and it's one that it's never too late to change.
That's why this one statement from the Bible went deep into my soul as a parent. It says in Ephesians 4:29, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths" - that would be words that tear them down - "but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs." So you've got construction and you've got demolition. My words to my children are one or the other.
I don't need much help seeing where I've blown it. I'm painfully aware of how I've failed. What saves me, literally, is that my Father, my Heavenly Father, does not replay all the dark episodes of my life. Of all the people who could nail me for my many sins, God has that undisputed right. He gave me this life. So often, I've dissed the One who made me and I've done what I want to do. I've defied this sinless, totally holy God.
I would run from Him, except for one thing. What the Bible tells me about Him. It'sI our word for today from the Word of God in Psalm 130:3, "If You, O Lord, kept a record of sins, who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness." What a word! Forgiveness. What an expensive word. Not for me, but for the God I've sinned against, because of what His Son did so I would never meet my sins on Judgment Day.
The Bible says, "He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him" (Isaiah 53:5-6). My sins removed, never again to be replayed, by a God who loved me so much He would do whatever it took not to lose me. And it took His very best. It took His Son.
This full pardon from an all-perfect God is within anyone's reach. It's within your reach if you'll take for yourself what Jesus died to give you. That's what our website's about. I would encourage you to go there. It's ANewStory.com. Today could be the day that all the falls, all the mistakes, all the regrets, all the sins are erased from God's Book forever. And you'll never meet your sins when you stand before God. Because Jesus paid it all for you on the cross.