July 3, 2023
Melissa Valerio
On this day in 1985, the box office hit movie Back To The Future was released in theaters. Starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, the movie was based on a time machine car that was able to transport the main characters into the past. While in the past, the main character realized that his actions were starting to change the future (from where he came), so he manipulated the events surrounding him in an attempt to correct those changes. Then he came up with a plan to return to the future in the hopes that life was better than the way he left it.
Although time travel is impossible in real life, this movie hits on a very real desire. Wouldn’t we all love to change some things in our past in order to have a better today? Not that everything should be changed, because I think many of the trials we went through helped shape our character and grow our faith. But at least for me, I know I would have loved to make a different choice a time or two in the past. Save myself a whole lot of headache and heartburn, that’s for sure! But there’s hope even in the messy past because the truth is, if we’re children of God, the past becomes part of the future. That’s the whole idea of redemption. The blood of Jesus has so much power in it, that even the past becomes part of the future. God is not limited to time as we are. He is able to reach down from Heaven into our past and manipulate the effects of those actions from negative effects to positive effects. From a curse into a blessing. If given the opportunity to go back in the past, you and I would change our actions, right? At least some of them. We would change decisions and choices. But God works on another level altogether. He changes the ripple effects of those choices. The facts and details of our past don’t change, just the meaning behind the action. Like Joseph said in Genesis 50:20 “You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people.” (HCSB) Same painful events, same heartbreaking actions, two totally different purposes.
The plan of redemption was made in God’s mind before the Earth was created. He knew we would sin, and He knew we’d need saving. So, He prepared a way to save us even before He created the sinner. How marvelous that our Creator has made provision and protection for us, even before we were born. Doesn’t that make you want to cry to know that He covers us so completely with this love and care? God protects us from what may come in the future and from what has happened in the past. Psalm 139:5, The Passion Translation, puts it this way “You’ve gone into my future to prepare the way, and in kindness you follow behind me to spare me from the harm of my past. You have laid your hand on me.” See how the blood of Jesus covers us on all sides? We may not have a DeLorean to enter into our past, but we do have something better — the precious redeeming blood that can enter anyone’s history and change the future forever.
Prayer: Father God, thank You for having a plan in action for our redemption. You always know exactly what we need. Help us to trust that all the events that have happened in our lives are part of that beautiful plan of restoration. We may have fallen into sin or made unwise choices, but Your Son’s blood covers them all. Let the Holy blood of our Savior right the wrongs, and bring out the blessings. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Action: Read Joel 2:13-26; notice that God is calling us to repent of the way we’ve lived our lives apart from Him. Not only from sins of commission, but sins of omission. The wrongs we acted out and the wrongs of neglect and disobedience. If we will “rend our hearts” (be brokenhearted for sinning against the Lord), He promises to restore us to glory. He says He will repay us for all the years that sinful life had devoured (v. 25). This is His promise to redeem the past and rewrite our stories. This is where He enters our past and makes it part of our future. But it’s not automatic, it starts with repentance.