"I put a hole in the wall!" were the words my daughter confessed to me one night after ballet class. Needless to say, I was a bit shocked and a little scared!
She explained that while waiting in the hallway for her class to begin, she tried to do a hand-stand up against the wall. She reached down, feet sprung up, and well...her foot put a hole in the wall! A big, shoe-size eight, hole in the wall. She was shaking in the retelling. I asked her if she told and showed her instructor. She had and she begged for forgiveness. My daughter told me that as soon as the teacher heard the news she ran out into the hallway, looked at the hole and said, "Oh. No worries. That's been done before. I'll take care of it."
All during the class, although, my daughter felt happy with her teacher's kind response, she was uneasy in the mystery of "how" her teacher would take "care of it." She feared her teacher would call me and make my husband fix it or have us pay for the repair. She fretted the whole time she was in class. When she got home she confessed it all to me. I told her not to worry and that I'd go and talk to her teacher the next day. She was eased a bit, but still quite anxious.
The next day she ran ahead of me to spy if her teacher had arrived. Before I even made it to the top of the staircase my daughter came running back, as giddy as a baby, smiling from ear to ear, and trying to whisper with giggles in between, while declaring, "The hole is gone!" I had to see for myself. She was right. The hole was not there. It was filled in. Painted over. Perfect! No signs of a previous hole were even visible.
The fear lifted. Peace returned to my daughter's heart and body. She leaped and danced and giggled with excitement. The impending doom was gone. The punishment was lifted. She was set free.
It only took moments to see that God's hand was in this. God wanted to touch my daughter's heart in a way that my counseling or sermons on Sunday ever could. He wanted her to see how the sin in her life, now and in the future, is like that hole in the wall. Big, ugly, and, for her, hard to fix. But God, when we confess our sin, washes over us and restores us. He forgives us and makes us new. Brand new. We do nothing and He does everything. God says, "I've taken care of it" through my Son, Jesus. No worries. You are forgiven."
We are free to dance and rejoice because we are set free from sin. "...God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. " (1 John 4:8b-10)
We can dance and smile and live without fear because His love is in us and in His love there is no fear.n18 "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4:18)
How many times do we feel as adults that we have, "Put a hole in the wall" of our lives? The mistakes seem huge. They feel unforgivable. And the regrets never seem to go away. But the truth is we are forgiven. It's covered over, made new, restored, not by anything we can do, but by what God has already done through Jesus. We can actually dance as we think about our past! We are set free because we are loved so much by our Heavenly Daddy. He cares for us, loves us, forgives us, makes us new.
Lord, make us perfect in your love. Drive all fear from our hearts and minds over our past, our present and our future. We trust that we are forgiven through the Blood of Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross. Help us to dance in the true freedom that only comes from you. Amen.
She explained that while waiting in the hallway for her class to begin, she tried to do a hand-stand up against the wall. She reached down, feet sprung up, and well...her foot put a hole in the wall! A big, shoe-size eight, hole in the wall. She was shaking in the retelling. I asked her if she told and showed her instructor. She had and she begged for forgiveness. My daughter told me that as soon as the teacher heard the news she ran out into the hallway, looked at the hole and said, "Oh. No worries. That's been done before. I'll take care of it."
All during the class, although, my daughter felt happy with her teacher's kind response, she was uneasy in the mystery of "how" her teacher would take "care of it." She feared her teacher would call me and make my husband fix it or have us pay for the repair. She fretted the whole time she was in class. When she got home she confessed it all to me. I told her not to worry and that I'd go and talk to her teacher the next day. She was eased a bit, but still quite anxious.
The next day she ran ahead of me to spy if her teacher had arrived. Before I even made it to the top of the staircase my daughter came running back, as giddy as a baby, smiling from ear to ear, and trying to whisper with giggles in between, while declaring, "The hole is gone!" I had to see for myself. She was right. The hole was not there. It was filled in. Painted over. Perfect! No signs of a previous hole were even visible.
The fear lifted. Peace returned to my daughter's heart and body. She leaped and danced and giggled with excitement. The impending doom was gone. The punishment was lifted. She was set free.
It only took moments to see that God's hand was in this. God wanted to touch my daughter's heart in a way that my counseling or sermons on Sunday ever could. He wanted her to see how the sin in her life, now and in the future, is like that hole in the wall. Big, ugly, and, for her, hard to fix. But God, when we confess our sin, washes over us and restores us. He forgives us and makes us new. Brand new. We do nothing and He does everything. God says, "I've taken care of it" through my Son, Jesus. No worries. You are forgiven."
We are free to dance and rejoice because we are set free from sin. "...God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. " (1 John 4:8b-10)
We can dance and smile and live without fear because His love is in us and in His love there is no fear.n18 "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4:18)
How many times do we feel as adults that we have, "Put a hole in the wall" of our lives? The mistakes seem huge. They feel unforgivable. And the regrets never seem to go away. But the truth is we are forgiven. It's covered over, made new, restored, not by anything we can do, but by what God has already done through Jesus. We can actually dance as we think about our past! We are set free because we are loved so much by our Heavenly Daddy. He cares for us, loves us, forgives us, makes us new.
Lord, make us perfect in your love. Drive all fear from our hearts and minds over our past, our present and our future. We trust that we are forgiven through the Blood of Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross. Help us to dance in the true freedom that only comes from you. Amen.
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