Articles
Do-Overs
In tennis it is called a “net.” In golf it is called a “mulligan.” In general, it is called a “second chance” or a “do-over.” Occasionally we are afforded an opportunity to do something a second time, but life often gives us only one shot and then the moment passes.
Most of us wish we could go back and relive a particular time of life with our present level of maturity. Maybe it’s high school, or perhaps college or young adulthood. Those are times of magnified insecurity, self-consciousness and inexperience. We are unsteady and unsure. And we make mistakes, sometimes big ones, that haunt us for a long time.
But God has so arranged the flow of time that we are barred from actually reliving a past moment. True, sometimes the first serve doesn’t count. But decisions made, and the fears, inhibitions, pride, selfishness and other misguided factors that influenced them, shape our reality. The fact is, we have to do the best we can in the present moment without the benefit of wisdom that may later arise from it. To put it simply, we have to make decisions at twenty-five without the advantage of being forty.
Once David heard Nathan’s awful condemnation against him regarding Bathsheba, surely he desperately wished for a do-over (2 Sam 12:7-15). He had lost sight of what God meant to him, of the value of human life, of what constituted true righteousness. Many other Biblical examples of wreckage and regret could be cited, but we know the story all too well from our own personal experience.
What it boils down to is trust – trust in the values, wisdom and guidance of God’s word. In the present, we must trust that God knows best. We must not allow Satan in the pressure of the moment to talk us out of doing what is right. We must learn to distinguish between truth and falsehood. We must recognize spin, resist political correctness, remain resolute before evil’s intimidation. We must suppress the passions that stifle reason. It would also help us to listen to the wise counsel of those who have learned from their own reflection and sorrow.
When we look back upon our own misguided actions, we must have enough regret to avoid the same mistake – but not so much as to drive us to despair. This is how flawed and fallible people learn. It is a shame that we often don’t get it right the first time, but it is a bigger shame to repeat the error.
“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” That’s not a Biblical quotation, but it does express the failure to gain wisdom by our mistakes. May we all resolve to face every situation in life as dispassionately, wisely and rationally as possible, being guided by the will of God. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”
