OVERRIDE!

I was at the bank for a transaction. The teller made an error in the transaction. She turned round and said, “OVERRIDE!”

A superior officer came over to her and ran his fingers over her computer and went back to his desk. The transaction was restored.

I was at Shoprite a few days later and I heard the word “OVERRIDE!” again when the cashier punched in the wrong price of goods and needed help. The supervisor came over to help her cancel the wrong figure.

These experiences made me ponder on that word: OVERRIDE.

What does it mean? The dictionary defines it as “use of one’s authority to reject or cancel a decision, view, etc)”.

It reminded me of a scripture: ‘Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him” -Psalm 32:1.

In other words, “Blessed is the man whose sin God OVERRIDES!”

A man commits a crime. He is taken to court and sentenced to prison. But a Judge in a Higher Court OVERRIDES the judgment and discharges and acquits the man.

The Judge uses his authority to reject/cancel a decision.

Blessed is the man whose crime the Judge would not count against him.

Now, people can complain, people can wail, people can whine. But there’s NOTHING anyone can do about it: It is the Judge’s prerogative to do what he did.

We see this play out in lives often.

You break your dad’s rules: he asked you to come home latest by 7pm. You get home by 8pm. Your mum is upset with you. She says you deserve a punishment. But dad says, “Don’t punish him: let him go.”

Your dad used his authority to reject/cancel a decision.

Blessed is the boy whose offence his dad will not count against him.

You work in a Corporate Organization. Your error makes the Organization lose 50 Million Naira in a transaction. You face a Disciplinary Committee which recommends you for a dismissal.

The MD reads the recommendation and decides not to fire you. He tells you, “I just spent 50 million Naira to train you to be more diligent: don’t make such school boy errors again!”

Your boss used his authority to reject/cancel a decision.

Blessed is the staff whose error his boss will not count against him.

Jeffery Dahmer was an American Serial Killer. He killed 17 people, dismembering their bodies between 1978-1991. He was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1992. Later that year in prison, he became a Born Again Christian. He was murdered in prison by a fellow inmate in 1994.

A few days ago, I read a tweet: “Jeffery Dahmer gave his life to Christ in prison before he died. According to the Bible, he should be in Heaven right now, singing Hosanna with the angels”. It was a sarcastic tweet, but the truth nonetheless!

Scripture teaches us, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, NOT COUNTING THEIR SINS AGAINST THEM…” 2^nd Corinthians 5:19

Scripture also tells us, “Do you think that I like to see the wicked people die? Says the Sovereign Lord. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live” Ezekiel 18:23.

God did not count Jeffery Dahmer’s sins against him. That is His NATURE: He OVERRIDES sins!

And the only way He does that is through the Blood of Jesus Christ, the ONLY way sin can be purged from the lives of men.

Jeffery Dahmer met with Jesus in prison. Despite all the crimes he committed, despite all the sorrow he caused the relatives of the people he murdered, despite all the anger of the public against him, despite the sarcastic tweet and despite the judgment of the court…

There is a HIGHER JUDGE who has the POWER to OVERRIDE whatever his actions were, and give him a clean bill.

That JUDGE did just that: not only for Jeffery Dahmer, but for as many as come to Jesus in repentance, turning their lives over to him.

He can do it for you too.

He can OVERRIDE your mistakes.

He can OVERRIDE your crimes.

He can OVERRIDE your errors.

He can OVERRIDE your everything.

Come to Him today!

He said, “Him that comes to me, I will in no wise cast out” -John 6:37

Shalom,

Haruna Daniels.