Edges Magazine Issue 32 - Christmas a time of hope

EDGES MAGAZINE Issue 32

March 2003

Ann Slater is part of the Edges Team
Christmas a time of hope

‘If God doesn’t call coming, He will call coming back’

What does this mean to you, how do you interpret it? When I was growing up it seemed to be a dire warning that sooner or later we would be punished for our sins. Through the years and on reaching maturity I have come to look at things in a different light. I now think of Him as a loving, merciful God, just and forgiving; I still believe that we have to be accountable for our actions but with true repentance we will be given a second chance. This came home to me very strongly just recently when having a discussion with a young friend.

The subject was raised of the criminal who, whilst on parole from prison, purchased a ticket for the National Lottery and won an enormous amount of money. Quite understandably various questions and comments were being thrown around – ‘What will he do now? Should he be made to pay compensation to those whom he troubled? Will he be prompted to give up his criminal activities now that he can afford to live in luxury? If the wages of sin is death, what a nice way to die amidst all that wealth’ Finally my young friend said ‘Maybe this was a second chance that the young man had been given. Perhaps a kind of atonement and the way he handled it would prove to be his undoing or his salvation.’ Something like the curse of King Midas! The words of my friend have taken on a new meaning for me now as we approach the season of Christmas, the second coming, a time to prepare for the birth of Christ. Hopefully the meaningfulness of this season will be of greater significance and that it will be a second chance to look at my own understanding of God and my relationship with him.