Here are a couple of quotes to begin with:
“How often do we wish we could start all over again? Here is a persistent thing in the human heart. Is there a way of beginning again? The Christian testimony is unanimous. In its answer: Yes. And what we long for, Jesus Christ – the Divine Yes – affirms.” (E. Stanley Jones, The Divine Yes).
“I wish that there were some wonderful place called The Land of Beginning Again, where all our mistakes and all our heartaches and all of our poor selfish grief could be dropped like a shabby old coat at the door, and never be put on again.” (Louisa Fletcher).
Have you ever wanted to begin again? I have and I suspect you have too. Well, you cannot undo the past. What’s done is done. But you can receive forgiveness and with that forgiveness the opportunity to start over again. The God we serve is The God of a New Start. Lots of Biblical examples testify to that fact. Consider David, an adulterer and a murderer. Here’s his plea:
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit” (Psalm 51:10-12).
Then there is the Apostle Paul before he became an apostle. Here is what he said about himself:
“…I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it” (Galatians 1:13). He called himself the chief of sinners (I Timothy 1:15). But with God through Jesus there is the wonderful hope of starting over. Paul said, “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry” (I Timothy 1:12).
These are just two among many examples of our God being The God of a New Start. And in our present day many a life can be pointed to as one who has reaped the wonderful blessing of repentance and forgiveness and a new start. You cannot go back and undo what you have done. But you can, through faith, trust and obedience, have the assurance that God will be faithful to His promises, promises like: “Your sins and iniquities I will remember no more.” Someone at sometime coined this statement: "Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand a brand new ending.” Our God makes possible a brand new ending! Is He your God?
— Les Ferguson, Sr.
