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Key Bible Verse: And so, dear friends, we can boldly enter heaven's Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:19). Bonus Reading: Psalm 51:7–17

A homeless man asked a successful lawyer on the street for a dollar. Taking a hard look at the man's face, the attorney said, "Don't I know you from somewhere?"

"You should," said the homeless man. "I'm your former classmate. Remember, English, third period?"

"Why, Steve, of course!" the lawyer answered. Without further question he wrote him a check for $500. "Here! I don't care what's happened in the past. Take this and get a new start."

Tears welled up in the man's eyes as he walked to a bank nearby. But at the door, he saw the well-dressed tellers and spotless interior. Looking at his own soiled clothes, he said to himself, They won't take this from me. They'll swear I forged it.

The next day the two men met again. Seeing no change in Steve's appearance, the lawyer exclaimed, "Why, Steve! What did you do with my check? Gamble it away?"

"No," Steve said as he pulled it out of his dirty shirt pocket and told why he had not cashed it.

"Listen, friend," said the lawyer. "What makes that check good isn't your appearance, but my signature. Come on! Let's go cash it together."

—Greg Laurie in The God of the Second Chance

My Response: I'll thank God for the solid basis on which He accepts my repentance.

Thought to Apply: God is a specialist at making something useful and beautiful out of something broken and confused. —Charles Swindoll (pastor and author)

Adapted from The God of the Second Chance (Word, 1997) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

Holy God, enable me to view sin as you do, so that I am determined to reject it.

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