Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries: 24 April 2026
Apr. 24th, 2026 03:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sparoweThis devotion pairs with this weekend’s Lutheran Hour sermon, which can be found at lhm.org.
The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second Man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the Man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the Man of heaven.” (1 Corinthians 15:47-49)
“You never get a second chance to make a first impression,” as the saying goes. In other words—don’t squander that first chance, because it may be the only one you get—like with a job interview or a sales pitch. But in other cases, it’s not the first attempt that counts. I usually burn the first pancake, and the first marshmallow over the campfire. So, it’s not the first, but the second that counts. And the many that follow. For teachers, there’s a reason they say you just have to get through that first year. A veteran kindergarten teacher was telling me that first year felt like war. But the second year, she said, “I was a rock star.”
Patient relationships are what makes second chances possible. In a long-term relationship, the first impression is just the start. Second chances mean commitment, like a parent who drives their 16-year-old back to the licensing office for a second attempt at the driver’s test (or multiple second attempts); or a principal who gives that first-year teacher room to grow. We all need room to grow. And remembering that we are all works-in-progress, we can understand why it’s not the first, but the second that counts. This is a pattern you see throughout the Bible. Scripture tells a long and winding story of repeats, sequels, and second chances.
First, Joseph suffers, survives, and thrives in Egypt; second, his whole family follows. First, Moses is saved through water, tested in the wilderness, to meet God on the mountain; second, all his people experience the same. In our reading today, Paul brings the pattern to its maximal expression in Jesus. Paul writes to people who came from a culture that told them, “You only live once!” Death, they thought, was the end of embodied life. Maybe there was some ghostly after-life, but for life in the body, life in creation, this is all we get. There are no do-overs, no second chances, no resurrection, so they believed.
But Paul reminds them of the Gospel: with the crucified and risen King Jesus, there is a second, better, embodied life to come—not just for Him, but for all who belong to Him. As natural descendants of Adam and Eve, we’re Human 1.0. But the risen Jesus, He’s the better version. And we who trust in Him and follow Him, we will become truly human in Him—Human 2.0.
God is the God of second chances not for Himself, but for others. That’s who God is, and that’s what love does. Love gives second chances because love puts others first. God put us first by giving His one-and-only Son to die for us—us who squandered our first impression. Jesus rose so that we could become like Him, to rise with Him to new life, starting now.
You may not be a rock star human yet, but you can appreciate how good it feels to get a second chance—as many as you need.
WE PRAY: Dear Father, I am sorry I missed the mark. Please give me grace. I want to do better, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Rev. Dr. Michael Zeigler, Speaker for The Lutheran Hour.
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