New Beginnings

Do you ever want to start over again? Sometimes we all wish for a redo button to appear in front of us. But we’ve all heard those negative people saying there are no second chances! Says who? That’s my question because guess what? Everyday is the chance to start a new. You can restart your mindset, your goals, your food choices and attitude. It’s never too late to start again.

You may be asking how can that be? Maybe you haven’t had second chances before in your life. There are a lot of jobs and schools who lack that sort of grace but let me tell you, my God is a God of second chances, and thirds and fourths and seventy-sevens. God is not a hard old man sitting on a cloud in heaven with a beating stick waiting to whack you. That is not him! People and law and religion can try to make him out to be like that but that’s not him.

There are a lot of stories of second chances in the bible. If you look in old testament there’s Moses who was a murderer, he ended up leading the slaves out of Egypt. Rahab assisted the spies in Jericho and she was known as a harlot. They say even Mary Magdelene was a prostitute. I don’t say these things to make fun of anyone’s past, that is not my intention. What I am saying is that just because there is pain and hardship and bad things in your past, it does not mean your future can not look new and bright.

One of my favorite stories in the bible is in John 8. The teachers of the law bring a woman up to Jesus and they say, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery!” And Jesus is like uh where’s the dude then? And he says if anyone of you has not sinned you can throw the first stone since what you want is a stoning.

John 8: 9-11: “When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. ¹⁰ Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”

¹¹ “No, Lord,” she said.

And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

I think it’s such a beautiful story. Jesus doesn’t condemn her. He doesn’t shame her for what she’s done in the past. He says don’t sin anymore. Go on be free. That’s what I see when I read that passage. Jesus gave her a new beginning.

Jesus can give you a new beginning too. No matter how “far gone” you feel or are told you are, you are never too far for the love of Jesus.

How can you start new today?

Have you felt the love of Jesus before?

How can the love of God transform your life?