“Live. Die. Repeat.”

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“Live. Die. Repeat.”

That’s the tagline of Tom Cruise’s “Edge of Tomorrow” 2014 sci-fi movie. 

Major William Cage was a soldier in a future alien invasion in Europe. Apparently, the aliens (called Mimics) could predict every move Cage’s United Defense Forces would take even before they took it. That gave them the winning edge in every battle. Humanity was losing the war.

(Don’t worry. No spoilers ahead.)

Cage accidentally discovered the secret behind the Mimics’ “sixth sense.” In a fatal fight against an alien, he got sprayed with its acid-like blood before he died. Surprisingly, he woke up moments before they were deployed in that last battle. The aliens employed a “time loop” strategy. That’s why they already knew what their enemy would do every time they would go back in time. Cage got caught in that loop. Like the aliens, he would improve his fighting skills every time the battle starts over. It’s not an instant replay. It’s a restart. 

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How we wish we could have that “time loop” ability! After making a mistake, we hope we could reset time, start all over and change our future. We could also relive important moments of our lives and enjoy it again and again.

But, unfortunately, that’s not how life works. The Bible already told us that “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27, ESV) 

We live. We die. But, no repeat.

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We may correct our mistakes. But we cannot change the fact that we committed them. I think this desire to delete our errors is one of the reasons why Hollywood kept on churning out time travel movies like “Edge of Tomorrow.”

But there’s no auto-correct in life. We have to live with our mistakes. There’s no alien blood to bestow the ability to restart time. There’s no repeat. There’s regret. That is, if we fail to learn from our faults.

Or, better yet, learn from your mistakes like the “time loop” premise of the movie. Then, instead of regret, there’s rejoicing. 

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And, even without the power to reboot time, we can trust the One Who controls time. Psalm 139 declared, “[I]n your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” (v. 16b) As a hymn goes, 

I know Who holds the future,

And I know He holds my hand;

With God things don’t just happen

Ev’rything by Him is planned.

So as I face tomorrow with its problems

Large and small

I’ll trust the God of miracles,

Give to Him my all!

NOTE: If you want to learn how to live a life of rejoicing instead of regretting, join the “Detour: Finding Purpose When Life Doesn’t Make Sense” conference tomorrow, November 29, 2014, 8AM to 5PM, at Christ Commission Fellowship.