Today’s Verse
“The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.”
Psalm 103:8
The God of Again
Second chances feel too good to be true. When you’ve failed, when you’ve blown it, when you’ve made the same mistake for the tenth time, logic says that’s it. You had your shot. You wasted it. Now you live with the consequences. But God doesn’t operate by that logic.
Peter knew this. He swore he’d never deny Jesus. Then, when it mattered most, he did, three times. And it wasn’t a quiet betrayal. It was loud, public, with cursing for emphasis. If anyone had burned their bridge with Jesus, it was Peter. But after the resurrection, Jesus didn’t write him off. He sought Peter out. And on a beach, over breakfast, Jesus gave him a second chance. Not with shame or conditions. With restoration. With purpose. With another opportunity.
This is who God is. The God of again. The God who offers fresh starts to people who don’t deserve them. The God whose grace doesn’t run out after the first failure, or the fifth, or the fiftieth. He keeps extending chances, opening doors, inviting you to try again.
Here’s what second chances require: humility to receive them. It’s easy to disqualify yourself, to assume you’ve used up all your opportunities, to believe the lie that God’s patience has limits. But grace doesn’t work that way. His compassion is new every day. Every morning is an opportunity to begin again.
Today, if you’re stuck in yesterday’s failure, hear this: God is offering you another chance. Not because you earned it, but because that’s who He is. Take it. Walk through the door He’s reopening. And thank Him for grace that never stops giving you opportunities to start again.
Today’s Prayer
Lord, thank You for second chances and fresh starts, for not holding my past against me, for allowing me to begin again when I thought I’d blown it for good.
I’ve messed up, failed, made wrong choices, and instead of writing me off, You extend grace, offer another opportunity, invite me to try again.
Teach me to receive second chances with humility and gratitude, not taking them for granted or treating fresh starts as unlimited do-overs but as precious gifts.
You could have given up on me after the first failure, the tenth, the hundredth, but instead You keep offering new beginnings, clean slates, opportunities to get it right.
Help me extend to others the same grace You’ve shown me, to offer second chances instead of holding grudges, to believe in fresh starts for people who’ve let me down.
Remind me that every morning is a fresh start, that Your mercies are new every day, that I don’t have to stay stuck in yesterday’s failures.
Give me courage to actually take the second chances You offer, to walk through doors You’ve reopened, to embrace fresh starts instead of disqualifying myself.
Let gratitude overflow today for second chances I didn’t deserve and fresh starts I couldn’t earn, thanking You for grace that keeps giving me opportunities to begin again.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.