A CORRECTED LIFE

Rev 5:9-10  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

Let’s say you are sitting in an exam hall sweating profusely. You are so uncomfortable and frustrated. The large exam hall seems stuffy and small. You think what kind of school can’t get their air-conditioning working, but you notice that the problem is not with the air-conditioning. All your life you had studied hard for this exam but all that you studied seem to have flown out of the window. You have looked at the questions before you and though you attempted all, as was the instruction, you seem to realise that you don’t know what you are doing.

You look around the hall at various brilliant students who are scribbling away and you count the ceiling boards to pass the time and avoid the temptation to cheat. You know that if you failed this exam, your life would never be the same. All the years of investment would have been wasted and you will not get a second chance. What if during the course of this exam you remember that you are allowed to ask the supervisor, who also happens to be the lecturer of the course, for help?

I can imagine you taking advantage of that opportunity and calling over the supervisor. Who when He comes, takes a look at you paper and begins to tell you what to write.  He gives you all the correct answers and helps you through the exam. When the result of the exam comes out, would you be surprised that you made an A? Of course not!

When I think of the above scripture, I get the picture painted above. These were men who where now sitting on thrones. Their crowns, which they threw at the feet of Jesus, they knew they never deserved it. It was grace that allowed them a place here. They got help to make it in life.

Friends, these men were made Kings and Priests. They received help for the exam of their lives.  The master made corrections on their lives until they became candidates for the throne!

These were redeemed by the blood of the lamb. Their lives had been washed; they had been made worthy to be kings and priests unto God. The point remains that these received help from God!

You too can have a corrected life! Every great man or woman of God in the bible was not born holy. In fact except Jesus none can claim to be without sin. What made the difference is that in the course of their lives they looked up to God and cried out through their various blunders/mistakes.

Name them and we will easily find the various mistakes they made in their lives.Peter denied Jesus thrice before a little girl (not a very good martyr material); Paul consented to the murder of Christians, or David who committed adultery and murder or Jonah who ran away from God in disobedience.

The bible is full of imperfect men who had the privilege of inviting the master to correct their lives before the exam was over! They had the opportunity to ask for God’s mercy before they died.They lived a corrected life!

Friend, what have you done wrong that is eating at the core of your heart? What are those errors you have made in the past that makes you sweat when you remember them? You are woken up in the night by the cries of the child you aborted or the cry of man you killed as a cultist or the friend or subordinate you lied against.  These acts you committed seem to follow you about long after you have committed them. You have silenced every other thing but your conscience.

Maybe you are already a Christian but you are struggling with secret sin. You have known several failures with regards to the same besetting sin that you don’t think you can make it. This is not something that is demonic, it is unconquered human nature. Instead of giving up, look up to God. The blood of Jesus cleansed you, the cross also dealt with that sinful nature. Jesus came to deliver his people from sin; I believe he can deliver you.

When we get to heaven, it would not be because we were perfect; it would be because we were made perfect! It would not be because we got everything right but it will be because of His help to us. He came when we were writing the course, while we were still in the exam called life and he corrected our lives.  When we were sweating it out, He came to our aid.

When we make it to heaven we will realise that it was because we allowed Him to correct our lives and destinies on the earth. If we are going to make anything worth rejoicing about in heaven it will be because of God’s correction to us while we lived.

Jesus wants t o correct your life too. He can cleanse your sins by his blood and bring you to your throne in heaven. All the help can be offered now that we are alive because you can’t correct your life when you are dead! The exam would have been over and you would have made a mess of the opportunity given you in life.

There are still some self-confident and brilliant students who will keep writing and never ask for help. Don’t be like them! Yield your life to the saviour and ask him to take control. Ask for him to correct your life and destiny.

There are several brilliant students who believe they can make it without Jesus. Have you ever seen those guys who write vigorously in exams only at the end to discover that they wrote off point?  Some well read professors who term God as a figment of our imagination. Those that have educated God out of all their thoughts and there are also those who have believed a lie. What a tragedy it would be to discover at the end of their lives that they were wrong! Yes, they were sincere but sincerely wrong!  May this not be our portion or experience! To finish lives journey and be denied of heaven is the worst experience one can have.

Allow Him to correct the errors in your life. David understood this and that’s why he said in Ps. 23 Your rod and your staff they comfort me. The rod was a shepherd’s instrument of protection, guidance and correction.  Jeremiah put it more clearly:

Jer. 10:24 Correct me, O LORD, but please be fair. Don't correct me when you're angry. Otherwise, you'll reduce me to nothing. (God’s word version)

Lord, correct my life today, help me to live for you every day. Make me worthy to sit with you in heaven. Amen