Fresh Starts, New Beginnings!

Once again school buses rumble down the streets and store shelves overflow with pencils, binders and notebooks. Whether we’re ready or not, a new school year has begun. Summer has come to an end as our routines demand focused allegiance, and students everywhere get a new chance to learn, grow and improve.


A new school year brings wonderful opportunities for adult students as well. Soon I’ll be joining a group of ladies who weekly travel to Jacksonville to study God’s Word. Have you ever heard of Bible Study Fellowship? It is an international, inter-denominational Bible study with classes for women, men and children. This year, one thousand BSF classes in 38 nations will be studying the book of Genesis, the first book in the Bible, the story of mankind’s beginning. There may be a class starting near you...check it out.

In anticipation of this study, I began to ponder the marvel of “beginnings.” Think about it…every life has a beginning, every relationship, every thought, every project and invention, even the earth itself. In the first chapter of Genesis we read: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and earth.” He spoke into existence light and land, water and vegetation, the stars, the moon and the sun. After creating animals of every kind, He created man and woman in His image and blessed them. “And God saw everything that he had made and behold, it was very good.” Genesis 1:1-31

Before the “fall” of mankind in disobedience, everything was very good. God intended that we live forever in relationship with Him, enjoying a perfect garden, in harmony with all the other creatures. But sin brought death and the consequences have lasted ever since.

Yet, the very Good News is that God (our Father) had a plan of restoration; a way to redeem mankind and wipe our sin clean. He was intent on giving us a “new beginning” by offering His Son Jesus to pay our debt in full.

Foreshadowed in the act of Passover, when the blood of innocent lambs was applied to the door posts of the Jewish community and the death angel passed over their homes, the blood of Christ is sufficient to cleanse a humble heart of sin. The innocent dying for the guilty… “turning away” from the old… a new beginning… a new birth!

A spiritual re-birth begins with faith in God’s Grace. To believe in the sacrifice of God’s Son is to welcome Him into your life as Lord and Savior. And thus one is adopted into God’s family. “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Galatians 4:4-5

If you are feeling empty or desperate, alone or despairing, God’s mercies are new every morning! (Lamentations 3:22). Take advantage of this time of new beginnings in the autumn of the year to reach out for Christ. He promises to give you true peace and to make you new.

It says in the Bible that “… if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

A new beginning is only a prayer away!