Extra Time – May 4, 2020

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart…
Acts 2:37

Extra Time

Perhaps one upside over these past several weeks is that you’ve had extra time to think and reflect. It could also very well be that a downside over these past several weeks is that you’ve had extra time to think and reflect.

Let’s give ourselves permission to admit something. Busy, hectic lifestyles—moving from one activity to the next, checking one deadline off after another, constant motion, constant music on the car radio—busy, hectic lifestyles can be a big advantage in one respect. They can help keep at bay the things that haunt us. But when the frantic pace stops, when the rapid routine grinds to a halt, when the familiar distractions have vanished—suddenly I may be confronting some hard truths about myself. Hard truths I have managed to avoid until now.

Perhaps it’s an old regret from the past. Perhaps it’s the face and voice of someone I’ve disappointed. Perhaps it’s a sinful weakness in my life that’s been hiding in plain sight for a very long time. Whatever it is, such confrontation with truth can cut me to the heart. It can dissolve my excuses. It can pulverize my denials. And that’s good.

It’s good because God can use these difficult moments. Through them, he can remind me of what he says in his Word. He can remind me that my greatest need is not a frantic schedule. My greatest need is not a hectic lifestyle filled to bursting with enough distractions to keep me from ever thinking about my failures and regrets and the people I’ve let down.

My greatest need is Jesus. In my place, he lived a perfect, regret-free life. On my behalf, he carried my every failure to the cross. And to assure me that he has kept his promise to cover me in his forgiveness, Jesus has risen from the dead.

So, when that extra time comes to think and reflect, let it come. If there’s a confrontation with a hard truth that cuts me to the heart, that’s okay. It just reminds me all the more that real peace—and real life—is in Jesus Christ alone.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, when certain truths about my life cut me to the heart, draw me to yourself all the more. Amen.