Have you ever wished you could have a “re-do” in life? Have you ever wished that when something went wrong that you could go back and do it all over again? I’m sure most of us have wanted them from time to time. In school, when most of us failed a test, we would plead for the teacher to have a “re-do” test. Maybe, there were times when you said something that you should not have and you wished you could go back and have that conversation all over again.
There were people in the Bible who wished they could have a “re-do” in their life. When Nathan the prophet called out David for his adultery with Bathsheba and explained to him the consequences of his sin, I’m sure that David wished he could go back and change the past. I’m sure Peter wanted a “re-do” when Jesus looked at him after he had denied the Lord the third time. Saul, too, probably wanted a “re-do” when the Lord appeared to him on the road to Damascus. Saul sat for three days praying and fasting neither eating or drinking. He was probably thinking, “If I could only go back and do it all over again.”
But you know what? We cannot “Re-do” life. David could not undo his sin with Bathsheba. Peter could not undo his denials of the Lord. Saul could not go back and “un-persecute” Christians. What is done is done.
Yet, in the face of what has happened in the past, God is a God of new beginnings. When David confessed his sin, when Peter returned to the Lord and when Saul repented of his prideful heart, God was able to take them and start them over with a new life in Him. The Apostle Paul stated years later, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). He would repeat this sentiment in Galatians 6:15 when he wrote, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.”
Where does one start? If one truly wants a “re-do” in their relations to God, one must be willing to repent of one’s sins. 2 Corinthians 7:10 says, “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.” Following this, one must acknowledge their new direction. This indeed being in the direction of Jesus. Romans 10:9 says, “…if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Finally, if one is to have their sins washed away in the sight of the Lord, one must be baptized. David did not need to be baptized because he lived under the Old Law but Saul did since he was under the New Law. That is why Ananias said to him, “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16).
What happens in this process of baptism? Paul explained it this way in Romans 6:4-6, “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.” Did you notice the contrast between the “newness of life” and the “old man”? Baptism brings on the newness of life and ushers out the old man and the body of sins.
That’s something to think about. If God can do a “Re-do” in the lives of David, Peter and Saul, then He can do a “Re-do” in your life as well. If you would like to know more about being baptized into Christ and being a part of His Church, please let us know.
Roy Knight
