New Beginnings in a New Year

 This New Year has me thinking about new beginnings. Do you ever wish you could have a new beginning—a do over? I sometimes wish I could go back to when I was 17 (knowing what I know now) and make some different choices. Perhaps I’d choose a different college or career path. I’d certainly study harder. I had way too much fun at college. My dating life would look different, as I would be more discriminating and careful with my choices in that arena. I now know what’s important in a life partner. If I had a do over, I’d focus more on spiritual principles during those childrearing years and be more intentional about the spiritual training of my children. I believe I’d be a better daughter, sister, friend.

Unfortunately, we can’t go back. But we can make changes and do better starting right where we are. The New Year is a perfect time for that. We can have a new beginning, of sorts. Did you know God is a God of new beginnings?

The God of New Beginnings

“Do not call to mind the former things or consider things of the past. Behold, I am going to do something new, now it will spring up; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:18-19)

Through the Prophet Isaiah, God told his people, the Israelites, that he would do a new thing. He said he would make streams in the desert, a road in the wilderness. God had already made a way for them through the sea as they fled the Egyptians but wanted them to know, something even greater was coming. That something would be the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ—the event that changed everything. Jesus became the new way of atonement—the new sacrifice.

If He Changed Jonah, Saul and Zacchaeus, He Can Change Me

Speaking of new beginnings, there are countless stories of people forever changed by an encounter with God. Jonah’s encounter was dramatic. He first refused to go to the evil city of Ninevah to tell the people about God. It took being swallowed by a great fish to change his mind. But change, he did. After that experience, he went and shared God’s message with the people of Ninevah.

Saul was a persecutor of Christians. He had countless believers jailed and killed. On the road to Damascus, Saul met God and was radically changed. He became the most prolific gospel proponent and missionary in the Bible. In fact, Saul (who later went by his Roman name, Paul) wrote more books in the Bible than any other author.

Zaccheaus, a familiar name to those of us who grew up in church and sang the song dedicated to this Bible character, was a hated man. He was a tax collector, an occupation that was despised. Tax collectors were corrupt social outcasts who worked for the Roman government. They embezzled money and had no empathy for the poor masses from whom they stole. The encounter Zacchaeus had with Jesus changed his heart and life. He even repaid the money he had stolen.

Drink of the Living Water and Never Thirst Again

The Samaritan woman at the well was another who was radically transformed by her encounter with Jesus. This woman was a pariah due to her many former husbands and her current living situation with a man to whom she was not married. The Jews despised the Samaritans. Because of this she had to draw water from the well at midday rather than when the other women went to the well. When she met Jesus, he changed her life. He told her of the living water he provides and that with this water she would never thirst again. The woman then brought many other Samaritans to meet Jesus, and many believed. Her life changed forever.

Maybe you, friend, need a new beginning this year, a dramatic change. Perhaps your marriage is on the rocks, or you’ve fallen into addiction of some kind. Possibly you’re in an emotional valley and have lost all motivation to engage with friends and family. Maybe you’ve just stopped going to church or reading the Bible regularly. We all go through difficult periods in life and struggle to consistently live with joy, peace and purpose.

We are Destined and Designed for an Abundant Life in Christ

“The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy; I came so that they would have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)

But remember, God loves you and wants you to live an abundant life in him. If you don’t know Jesus as your personal Savior, you need to start right there. The most important new beginning of all is the new life we have when we come to Christ in faith and repentance. He renews us, transitioning us from darkness to light, from death to life.  That is the most important new beginning we could ever experience.

In this new year, join with me as I pray about the areas where I need to be more like Jesus. I have much improvement to make. I know that as a believer, the Holy Spirit lives within me helping me grow closer to God and to better reflect Him to the world. We can trust that God will renew us and make us into the people he wants us to be. He is, after all, a God of new beginnings.