There is something heartening about stories of redemption.
Following football (or soccer if you must) as I do it, is often that players come along who develop a reputation. Assisted by fans and the media, that reputation seemingly forever shapes how the player is regarded. If that reputation is positive the player may on occasion gain an unfair advantage due to officials taking the reputation into account. Likewise if the reputation is negative, the player may be hard done by on occasion because of what has gone on before.
For a number of reasons the bad boy reputation never seems to give the person a break. Soon they themselves believe there is little else to do but live down to the reputation. Thus continues the ongoing cycle of defeat.
Thank God for hope. Hope of redemption.
This is the unrelenting hope in God who is able to take those bad boy reputations and turns them on their head. The indefatigable hope in God who will not give up on His creation even while others have written us off because of what we have done.
Those redemption stories are not just about sportspeople. I have witnessed people from messed up homes with a messed up past discounted by the education system and rejected in society come across loving people who support the individual. Over time the rebellious energy is channelled into something more constructive.
More than this is the greatest story of redemption that sees rebellious humanity given the chance to live like the children of the Creator.
It’s tough believing anyone can change, but the hope of redemption is what keeps us going in spite of the failure. It’s what stops us from going cynical and hostile to the people we serve.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 