Are you looking for a “do-over?” Would you like to have a fresh start? Do you long for renewal? Have you reflected on previous decisions and wish they could be washed away? Do you know a fresh start and renewal are possible?
Often when the calendar rolls over into a new year, we look to start afresh. We use things like this to trigger trying something new. Yet, in our minds, we know we cannot truly erase the bad decisions of the past. We won’t get a true restart.
Far too many in this world follow that paradigm and remain lost. They don’t really know the power of God. Perhaps you are one of them, perhaps you think you know, or perhaps you really know. God does provide a restart. Not exactly the way we might envision it, but in His way, one we would do well to follow.
The restart He offers is when we truly give ourselves to His Son, Jesus Christ. We do so through both inward and outward signs. The most important is within, in our hearts and minds. It requires us to give up ourselves, allowing God to wash us clean of the evil within. An outward sign of that is baptism, but it is the washing through the Holy Spirit that truly cleanses us.
God saves us from evil, both within and without, giving us a new birth with His Spirit. We start over as a new person because God justifies us by His grace, which is only made possible because of the sacrifice made by Jesus. We become heirs of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus, when we accept God’s offer to start anew.
It is only fear of rejection by this world that we fail to truly follow Him and accept His offer. We are afraid of what our friends, family, and co-workers will say. We are afraid they won’t want to associate with us anymore. Yet, God promises far more than any of them ever could—eternal life with Him.
I pray we all desire renewal offered by God. I pray we allow the Holy Spirit to wash us clean. I pray each one of us accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, receiving the gift of eternal life. Seek renewal. Accept God’s offer. Accept cleansing from the Holy Spirit. Receive God’s grace. Receive eternal life.
Titus 3:4-7 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
Marty Pressey 