Spiritual Do-Overs

I seldom play golf anymore. I used to enjoy getting out on the links with friends. But truth is, I am terrible at the sport! I tend to swing a club like I would a baseball bat. That is not the best way to address a golf ball! I couldn’t play competitive golf because I shank the ball across the whole course and into the rough, bunkers, and any nearby fairways when available! No one can compensate for that much bad technique! I’m tired of yelling, “Fore!” 😊

Visual Credit: NBC News

My sorry golf game depends on copious mulligans! These are the extra strokes or “do-overs” allowed by gracious friends who are anxious to move the game along. There are types of mulligans or second chances in many sports outside of golf. Tennis has the second serve after a fault. You can throw a bowling ball a second time to knock down the remaining pins. In basketball, there is the one and one at the foul line, and you have another chance after a false start in a competitive swim or track meet when there are technical errors.

Even in my favorite sport of baseball, you can theoretically hit an unlimited number of foul balls! Concerning baseball, spring training has already begun in earnest, and the 2026 MLB season will launch on March 26th. And, this year baseball will be introducing the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System. In short, there will be “robot umpires” on the field. Not literally, of course, but using AI, they will have on-site technology to support the human umpires.

Many baseball fans welcome this new challenge that can be made by players, coaches, and teams. However, some old school fans are highly skeptical about this. They suspect that this innovation will take the human element out of the game, lengthen an already long game, end the much loved and often comedic scrum, dustup, rhubarb, or heated argument that clears the benches of both teams! Only time will tell how much the “Grand Old Game” will be changed by newer technologies!

A re-do, do-over, or second chance is found often in Scripture. The Book of Deuteronomy records how God gave Israel a second chance after forty years of wilderness wanderings due to their failure of faith and obedience to enter the Promised Land the first time. During that time, God disciplined and humbled His people, He said, “But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God… You did not trust… Not a man of this evil generation shall see this good land!” (Deuteronomy 1:26, 32, 35).

One of the most memorable of second chances occurred after the Apostle Peter denied Jesus three times while warming himself in the Temple courtyard the night of Jesus’ arrest. It must have pained Peter to be caught lying three times that he was not a disciple of Jesus and did not know Him! After the resurrection, Jesus met Peter and his fellow disciples on the shores of the Sea of Galilee after His closest of friends had spent a night fishing without success.

Jesus engaged these unsuspecting friends that early morning with a surprising instruction to throw their nets into the water once again even though they had futilely spent the night fishing without a catch. The immediate result was a miraculous haul of 153 fish! They immediately exclaimed, “It is the Lord!”

Afterward, they came ashore and were welcomed with a seaside breakfast of bread with the fish they had just hauled in. John writes about how the focus of Jesus’ attention that morning was on Peter. It was another painful occasion for him, but this time, a redemptive one as Jesus restored His beloved fallen disciple. For every time Peter had denied Him, Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him and then called him back into service with these three requests, “Feed my lambs. Take care of My sheep. Feed my sheep.” (John 21:15-19).

Peter had experienced a second chance. He had been forgiven and re-purposed! His denials had grieved His Lord, but now Peter had been reinstated to service with Jesus’ simple invitation once again, “Follow me!” This is a reminder to us that God never gives up on or forsakes His children. He patiently loves us, readily forgives our sins, and allows us to rejoin His purpose for the world again, What a gracious God!

Let’s use this Lenten season as a time to recommit ourselves to faithfully serving Christ!

Mike Keppler, retired pastor,
active churchman and
doting grandparent.
Contact: drmjkeppler@gmail.com
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