Why "Edits" Don't Work

Our staff had our pictures taken today for the website.  Being married to a photographer, I have learned a few things about photography.  Of course, getting good shots is critical.  You can’t have a good picture without having someone know how to position people to take good photos.  However, even though the shoot took about 30 minutes for all of us the photographer still has a lot of work to do.

You see, there is this wonderful computer program called Photoshop.  They load all the images they take into the computer and then edit them with Photoshop.  You know what that means?  It means they can do some edits and make us look better.  Have some hair not right?  They can smooth that out.  Have some skin blemishes?  That can be softened too!  All kinds of things can be made to look so much better though some well done and strategically placed edits! 

Don’t you wish you could do some strategic edits on your day sometimes!  I sure do.

That thought I wish didn’t enter my mind.  That anger that got the best of me.  Those words I wish I could take back.  That time wasted on unimportant things.  That things I wish I didn’t do.  You get the point.  It would be nice if we could edit those things out at the end of the day.  But we can’t.  Life doesn’t work that way.

Do you know one of the reasons I wish I could edit things?  I would never say this and I am probably not even conscious when I think it, but here it is.  I think there is a part of me that wishes I could edit my life because then I would still be in control and I wouldn’t have to admit how dependent I continue to be on God’s grace, mercy and forgiveness. 

In other words, if I can edit out the bad then I can somehow make myself good on my own power.  But life doesn’t work that we either.  There are no edits we can do to clean ourselves up, but there is an inexhaustible amount of grace, mercy and forgiveness we have access to!

Here are two pivotal scriptures we need to latch onto:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. – 1 John 1:9

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. – James 5:16

It’s not easy.  In fact, sometimes it’s quite hard.  However, this is God’s way to really and truly be made clean in Him.  Edits don’t work, but the good news is you don’t need them.  Instead, through the grace, mercy and forgiveness of God you can be remade new.  What a blessing!

How about you?  What tempts you to try and edit things out instead of trusting in the grace, mercy and forgiveness of God?