Fresh Starts and New Beginnings
You are unlovingly critical of your spouse; you need a fresh start and a new beginning.
You are needlessly impatient with one of your children; you need a fresh start and a new beginning.
You allow yourself to fight with your neighbor; you need a fresh start and a new beginning.
You are wrongly dismissive of your pastor; you need a fresh start and a new beginning.
You get angry with a coworker; you need a fresh start and a new beginning.
You view internet material that you never should have seen; you need a fresh start and a new beginning.
Success has become your functional idol; you need a fresh start and a new beginning.
You cheat on an exam or your taxes; you need a fresh start and a new beginning.
We all have moments when we long for fresh starts and new beginnings. Sometimes the damage seems too great. Sometimes the valley seems so long and so dark that it seems it will never end. Discouragement and hopelessness come over us like a cloud. The enemy whispers in our ears, “Where is your God now?” And we are tempted to give up.
The gospel message of fresh starts and new beginnings is our hope after we transgress God’s moral boundaries and pay the consequences for our disobedience. It is wonderful to know that, if you are God’s child, no sin is spiritually fatal.
God’s grace is more powerful than any compelling sin. So, in the bounty of his mercy, God offers to each of his children the grace of fresh starts and new beginnings.
This theme of fresh starts and new beginnings runs throughout the biblical narrative. The Bible is a record of God’s again and again picking up his failing followers, dusting them off, blessing them with forgiving grace, and granting them new beginnings.
For every human failure there is plentiful restoring grace. The Bible is honest about the powerful tragedy of sin, but it doesn’t leave you there. It consistently points you to restorative grace.
The cross of Jesus Christ and the empty tomb stand as symbols to us that God will do what is necessary so that sin and judgment will not be the final chapter for us. In grace he comes to us with forgiveness, he reconciles us to himself, and then he works to make us new again.
As you look at broken things in your life, remember that your Lord is the Lord of fresh starts and new beginnings. Because of his grace, what seems irreparably damaged can be restored and live anew.
Come to him today in confession and hope. He will dust you off with his grace and grant you a new day in which to love and serve him.
All the iniquity
every act of rebellion
every transgression
each sinful intention
every moment of idolatry
every human try
each human cry
each pile of human whys
every act of vengeance
every choice of unforgiveness
all the suffering
all the pain and loss
every hope in a false Savior
each is humanity
longing for
searching for
crying out for
the Empty Tomb
stone rolled away
clothes folded
body gone
sin and death defeated
Messiah alive
the first fruit of a billion
resurrections
believers no longer held
in the tomb of death
alive forever by grace.
There is no solution
to the terminal and inescapable
disease of sin
without the vacated tomb
of the Sacrificial Lamb
the conquering King
Jesus.
A Prayer for Today: Lord, in so many ways, I need a fresh start and a new beginning. Help me to remember your grace when I fail and help me to live as a child who belongs to you and experiences fresh starts and new beginnings with confidence and humility. God, it is only because of your grace that the broken things in my life can be restored and live anew. I am grateful beyond measure for your kindness and generosity towards me. I love you and I’m so thankful. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
God bless,
Paul Tripp
Discussion Prompt for Children
• Where are some of the areas in your life that you think you might need a do-over? How would a fresh start make things better?
• How many times do you think God is willing to give us a fresh start and a new beginning? What made it possible for you and I to have those fresh starts and new beginnings each day?
Reflection Questions
1. Why do you think fresh starts and new beginnings are essential for human beings to have hope? Why do you think a Christian is different from a non-believer when it comes to confidence in fresh starts and new beginnings?
2. How does confession play a vital role in fresh starts and new beginnings? Why is confession more than just religious activity?
3. How does the empty tomb of Jesus impact the way you live each day as you think about the need for fresh starts and new beginnings in your life and the lives of others around you? Why isn’t any sin spiritually fatal for you as a believer in Christ?
4. How will you respond the next time the enemy whispers in your ears, “Where is your God now?”