New Beginnings

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9

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By Devotion on the Run (Jim Burns)

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At a conference of governors several years ago, an interesting question was raised: What is the greatest thing in the world? It was absolutely quiet. None of the governors had an answer. Finally a young aide took the microphone and said, "The greatest thing in the world is that we can walk away from yesterday."

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I'm not even sure if that young aide knew that she jad just summarized the essense of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The good news of the Christian faith is that we can walk away from yesterday. The apostle Paul could walk away form his perseci=ution of Christians and answer the call to Christ (see Acts 9). The woman caught in adultery could walk away from her destructive lifestyle into a new journey with Jesus Christ. (John 8). Matthew could walk away from his job as a crokked tax collector and follow Christ into a new life (Mark 2:14). The prodigal son could walk away from his life of moral failures in the far country and walk into the loving, forgiving arms of his father. (Luke 15)

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To walk away from the failures and guilt of yesterday rests at the very heart of forgiveness. This is no call to cop out, drop out or otherwise escape responsibility or the consequences of our choices. But it is liberating message that no one, absolutely no one, is tied to a past from which there is no release. The gospel gladly sings of the possibility of new beginnings. Aren't you glad you have been released from you past?