This man is my chosen instrument.
—Acts 9:15
Deceiver
Cheater
Adulterer
Denier
Persecuter
Match these names with the word above that describes them: David, Paul, Jacob, Abraham, Peter.
These single-word epitaphs could have been chiseled on their gravestones, but weren’t, because each was forgiven and used.
Jacob was on the lam, running away from the brother he had cheated, and who had murder on his mind. Jacob heard the voice of God in a dream, promising to be with him and bless the whole world through his descendants. “Surely the Lord is in this place,” he said, “and I was not aware of it” (Gn 28:16).
God is in your space too. Are you aware of it? Are you forfeiting a blessed future because of a past mistake? Don’t let that blunder become your one-word epitaph.
God offers you forgiveness and a future.
All you have to do to receive
his forgiveness is to accept it.