A New Year
I love the start of a new year. I love the blank calendar of blocks just waiting for events that will make a difference in my life and the lives of others. I love the fresh start that comes with the new digit at the end of the written date…2015. I love the hope of great things to come. I love the excitement of what is around the next corner. I love the new year.
I believe that the Bible reveals God to be a God who gives fresh starts. Moses moves from murderer to motivating leader. David advances from adulterer to a man after God’s own heart. Habakkuk grows from questioner and complainer to worshipper. Saul of Tarsus goes from chief of all sinners to world-changing missionary and gospel-proclaiming evangelist.
Each happens because God gave them a fresh start.
Ephesians 4:22-24 encourages followers of Jesus to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness (NIV).
Fresh starts do mean leaving something behind. We will never have 2014 again. In our spiritual journeys, the time comes to “put off your old self” and leave that behind so that you can “be renewed in the spirit of your minds” and so that you can “put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”
Fresh starts come as we leave behind the ungodly that we were so that we can embrace the new mind and the new self of who God wants us to be. So, fresh starts come by deciding to change. New beginnings bring with them the necessity of submitting to the Spirit of God and letting Him shape us and mold us to be more like Jesus. The different direction requires different choices.
God not only allows for those fresh starts…He encourages them. Are you tired of the direction you are heading? How about a fresh start? Are you weary of the life you have been leading? How about a new beginning?
The biggest change happens when one responds to the work of the Spirit in him or her and submits his or her life to Jesus as Lord and Savior. If you have never responded to Christ, you can and have a fresh start. Oh, the deep breath relief of a newly submitted life to Christ.
Yet, even Christians need “fresh starts” at times. For believers, the new year can bring with it the freshness of a renewed commitment to grow in Christ, serve Him faithfully, and be used of Him mightily. Great excitement, joy, and peace comes with a renewed commitment to Jesus.
How about starting 2015 with a fresh start in the Lord? You will be glad you did.