UPFRONT December 11, 2006 Issue

Always another chance

DANIS MUTCHLER, SENIOR DESIGNER

Who doesn't have regrets, large or small? Thank God—literally—for Christ Jesus' teaching that we can always turn around and do right!

If anyone ever felt the need for redemption, it must have been Saul of Tarsus, when he was suddenly confronted with the wrongness of his misdeeds at the Christ's questioning, "Why persecutest thou me?" Saul had been making "havoc of the church," persecuting the followers of the Lord with "threatenings and slaughter." That rebuke must have come to him with great love, though, because Saul was immediately drawn to it. He embraced a reformed attitude and behavior.

This reminds me of when my husband used to engage in political discussion with our plumber. Often they concurred on issues, but not always. One day the topic of discussion was capital punishment. At one point, my husband challenged the plumber, a Christian man, asking him what if Paul had been killed for his deeds instead of redeemed? Clearly, that question gave the plumber pause. I don't know what he thinks these days, but every time I hear of reform or redemption, I recall that conversation, and the point my husband made that we don't know what good a redeemed person might yet accomplish.

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