Leaving The Land of Second Chances
2 Samuel 14:14
Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die.
Over the years of my ministry as a youth pastor, I’ve spent my share of time in funerals. I’ve attended the services for people that I knew and people that I didn’t. I’ve preached them, too, even the funeral of my brother. But the one I sat in yesterday almost brought me to my knees in anguish because eternity never felt more real to me than it did then.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God has set eternity in our hearts, and so it shouldn’t really sneak up on us, even though it often does. 
It seems that we spend the great part of our lives trying to escape eternity. We live day to day and really don’t stop to consider eternity, and it’s easy to understand why. You see, you and I live in The Land of Second Chances. It’s a hard place to live in at times, full of mistakes, careless words, even anger-filled tantrums. It’s a place where on any given night we can hurt the ones that we love the most. It’s a place where we often lay our heads on the pillow of regret. Admittedly, it can be a land of pain, confusion, and raw, unbridled emotion. But at the end of the day, it is still The Land of Second Chances.
What does that mean to those of us who live there? It means that for every careless word there can be an intentional caring word that corrects it. For every moment lost to anger, a moment of affection can follow it and restore peace. It means that no matter how badly we mess up, the road to healing is always open. And as hard as The Land of Second Chances can be at times, it is the Second Chance that makes it such a great place to be. If only we could be there forever. But we can’t, and it is that truth that almost brought me to my knees. It is the realization that we must someday all leave The Land of Second Chances that made me feel like I would throw up right there on the back pew of the church. Someday, we won’t be here. Someday, there will be no more chances.
I thought about how terrible I feel when I lose my patience with my children, and the thought of never being able to make that right overwhelmed me. We take so much for granted, but it is the Second Chance that we take for granted the most. We believe there will always be another one: another day, another hour, another moment. We believe that we will always live in The Land of Second Chances.
We won’t. Live knowing that. Live differently in this land because you know it isn’t the last land you’ll live in. Someday you will move to The Land of No More Chances, and whether that land is paradise or torture hinges on what you do with the chances you still have here.
Take the chance now and make things right with Jesus. Make things right with the people you love the most. Say “I love you” more times than you think you should. Don’t waste the chances you have left. Don’t leave The Land of Second Chances wishing you had another one.
Because you won’t.
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