Fresh Start预览

We all need a fresh start, sometimes

There is a bright yellow divider in my diary that helps me to keep my place each day.

At the very top is written – ‘fresh start’.

Whenever I pick up my diary, flip to the next new day and reposition the divider, I’m reminded of the fact that it is a new day and I get the opportunity at a fresh start.

The Bible puts it this way:

The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.

(Lamentations 3:22-23 NLT, emphasis added)

I don’t know about you, but the fact that the Lord’s mercy, forgiveness, and second chances begin anew every single day fills me with so much hope and gratitude.

I make mistakes daily but, no matter how badly I have gotten it wrong the day before, I can rest my head at night knowing that tomorrow is a new day and that the Lord does not hold my wrongdoing over my head.

Forgiveness is one of the foundations of the Gospel message. The fact that we don’t have to earn our way into the Kingdom of Heaven or perform our way into His presence is an offer that is too good to refuse!

You cannot fail badly enough to prevent God from loving you and accepting you.

There is no sin deep enough that God cannot reach down and pull you out of it, setting your feet back on solid ground.

The grace and forgiveness of God are available through the sacrifice of our Saviour Jesus Christ. All sin was hurled upon Him at the cross and dealt with once and for all.

Jesus walked through the darkest valleys and experienced human pain so that He could empathise with us in ours. The Bible says:

‘He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care.’

(Isaiah 53:3 NLT)

Friends, the whole reason that Jesus walked the path that He did was so that you and I, upon accepting His sacrifice, His death, and His resurrection, can know full forgiveness.

This forgiveness was bought and paid for at a high cost. God loved this world so much that He gave His one and only Son so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

All we need to do is humble ourselves enough to admit that we make mistakes and are not perfect and that we need someone to do what we cannot – take away our sin.