Day 03. Spared
"God wiped out every living thing on the earth-people, livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and the birds of the sky. All were destroyed. The only people who survived were Noah and those with him in the boat."
GENESIS 7:23 (New International Version)
READINGS: Genesis 7-9, Matthew 3
Spared:
"I lied because I knew that the truth would hurt you too much."
"I kept my condition hidden so you wouldn't have to go through hell during the time I had left."
"I couldn't let you know; you would've changed after knowing."
When there is a gun aimed against your temple and then, suddenly, the man holding the gun gets taken down, that is what being spared truly means.
When you had been sick (so could not study/prepare yourself) and yet had been obligated to take an exam or go through evaluations but the examiner/evaluator had to be called away at the last minute, that is what being spared truly means.
When the doctor says you've got only six months to live and then suddenly, one day, says you're cancer-free, that is what being spared truly means.
Spared. Being truly spared means being given a second chance without a distortion of the truth, a bending of the rules or a compromise of one's beliefs or principles. Just like Noah-His faith in God even as everybody else doubted-- afforded him his second chance at life, thus, the ark. That is being spared. And just like the people who came to John the Baptist to listen and to repent (even some Pharisees and Sadducees went!), it was their quest for truth that gifted them with the chance to learn about God and to be saved. That is being spared.
Would you like to be spared from pain by lies... or spared by the truth despite the consequences? The choice is yours. Make the right choice and although the going might get rough in the beginning, in the end, you have everything to gain: a second chance to make it right and finally, truly begin to live your life.
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