Heaven's Highlight Reel

Recently I went to my 10-year-old nephew's youth baseball game in Arlington.  They live in south Texas so this was the first time I got to see him in action as his team was in the Metroplex for a tournament.  He was playing left field in a close 1-0 game when a line drive was sharply hit to the left-center field gap.  It was looking like a sure extra base hit and a potential game changer when my nephew darted to his left and snagged the ball as he fell to his knees.  Great catch.  Cue the ESPN theme music.

As he trotted in toward the dugout to the delight of his teammates I thought to myself that this was one of those plays that he will remember all his life.  I know I have a catalogue of similar moments that are etched in my memory.  Not that I was ever a great athlete, but I did have my moments.  Nice catches, key base hits, timely tackles, critical baskets, decisive goals. Years have passed but the memories are as clear as if they had happened yesterday.

Sometimes I wish I had a highlight reel of my impressive accomplishments.  Wouldn’t it be great to have all those recorded on a single video.  That way I could delete all the errors, the missed opportunities, the poor decisions, the near misses.  Just one big highlight reel of my life.

That will never happen but in some way I believe that God has done that for me, and for all Christians.  The Bible makes several reassuring statements about how our sins are remembered no more, that they are as far as the east is from the west, that our sins has been made as white as snow.  All reminders that God has this unique ability to see a highlight reel of our lives while all the mistakes, blunders, slip-ups, and lapses have been permanently deleted.

When my daughter was choosing colleges one consideration was playing collegiate tennis. To help her out I volunteered to put together a video of her to send to one of the interested coaches.  I brought the video camera to a few of her matches, collected hours of video, and then sat at my computer and went about editing out all the bad shots, all the missed serves, all the unforced errors.  In the end we were able to submit a video where she never missed a shot and always was hitting winners.  That edited video made her look like the perfect athlete!

Thanks to his sacrificial death on the cross Jesus is able to do the same thing for us.  All our sins have been edited out.  Savior Jesus is able to present to God the Father a video that makes us look absolutely perfect.

Be reminded Christian that all confessed, repented-of sins are forgiven.  They are forgotten.  They have been edited out of our story.  God has in his possession that coveted highlight reel of our lives.

"For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." Jeremiah 31:34 (NIV)