Daily Devotional for December 22, 2017
No Undo Button
“Tim! I need your help!” Abigail called out as she stared at the computer screen. “I hit a wrong key or something. The whole page is upside down!”
Abigail’s brother quickly walked over to see what was wrong. “It’s okay,” he assured her. “Look—there’s an undo button right here at the top. Click on it, and it will undo the change you just made.”
“Oh, I forgot all about that.” Abigail clicked on the button, and the page returned to the way it had been before. “That’s better!” she said.
A little later, five-year-old Paul ambled up to Abigail. “Whatcha doing?” he asked, licking jelly off his fingers.
“I’ll show you later,” Abigail said, not looking away from the screen.
“But I want to see now!” Paul laid his sticky hand on her arm.
“Paul—gross! Go away!” Abigail yelled, giving him a shove. She gasped as Paul reeled back, fell, and smacked his head against the corner of a chair. He let out a loud wail, bringing Mom to see what the problem was.
“I didn’t mean to push him so hard,” Abigail said. “He was bugging me, and…”
Mom examined Paul’s forehead. “Looks like he hit his head pretty hard,” she said. “Let’s put some ice on it.”
Abigail followed them into the kitchen. “I’m so sorry, Paul,” she said.
Mom pressed the ice pack to Paul’s head. “He’ll be okay, but you need to think before you act, Abigail. Remember that actions have consequences.”
“I know,” Abigail said with a sigh. “I wish there was an undo button for what I just did!”
“Well, God didn’t give us undo buttons,” Mom said. “Instead of undoing our mistakes, He wants us to confess them to Him so He can forgive us. He also wants us to learn from them—in your case, how hurtful it can be to act impulsively without using self-control.” She gave Abigail a hug. “He’ll use your mistakes to help you think before you act and shape you to be more like Him.”
Paul lifted his arms toward his sister for a hug. This time Abigail let him wrap his arms around her—and she didn’t care that his hands were still sticky. – Ruth Avallone
How about you?
Do you wish you had an undo button for something you did? You can’t undo what you’ve done so that it never happened, but you can ask Jesus to forgive you and remove that sin from your life. Then learn from it by looking at the consequences it had on you and others so you’ll remember not to do it again. Depend on Jesus to use those lessons to make you more like Him.
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