May 27 – Are New Beginnings Really New?

#147of365 #FaithBites #FaithJourney

Are New Beginnings Really New?

We all mess us. We all make mistakes. We carry that guilt with us every day. I have messed up more times than I can count. Some are little mess-ups, some are major mess ups. Those moments that I keep playing over and over in my head. Why did I do that? What the heck was I thinking? There is no way to come back from that.

I see it every day through social media. People saying “I suck”. No one is going to love me. “FMYL” (I had to look that one up). I know that through belief in Jesus, I am forgiven, but can I forgive myself. How can Jesus and God forgive me, but I am not able to let it go. Our baggage holds us down even when we ask for forgiveness and get it. Yes, we have earthly penalties to pay for some of our mistakes, but if God has forgiven us, who are we to question?

During worship this morning, our pastor talked about the before and the after. He illustrated this through Isaiah. Isaiah had a good life but as he said ‘I have filthy lips and live with people with filthy lips”. (Isaiah 6:5). And he was one of the good ones but still felt dirty and not worthy of his holiness. After he was cleansed by the Lord he was commissioned to go out and serve.  His life went from one that was simple, direct, and one of knowing where he was going. Then it turned into one of excitement, growth, importance.

His life definitely had a before and an after. But what about your life?


“Come now, let us settle the matter,”
says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.” – Isaiah 1:18

“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” – Isaiah 6:9

” let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” – Hebrews 10:22


We’ve talked about us being sinners in the past. We’ve talked about forgiveness. As the first Isaiah verse says, we had scarlet sins and now they are as white as snow. We have been cleaned by Jesus. We are forgiven, and now we need to go to the after. The before was the before, the after is now. Once we enter the now, we need to be ready to serve. We need to say, ‘here I am. Send me”. I had to chuckle a bit as I was having coffee with another pastor earlier in the week and I said this verse (misquoted a bit, but hey I’m not perfect) and he said did you know this was the story of the week. No idea at all. Guess, God wants me to serve 🙂

As that was the brief recap of the sermon, I thought more about it. While we have the before and the after, the beautiful thing is we will have many many afters. What do I mean by that? Let’s face it. While we are forgiveness an are as white as snow, we don’t stay that way. We keep sinning, we keep making mistakes. But the Lord keeps forgiving us and gives us a new start. We can have as many afters as we want if we truly repent. He will forgive us. The key is to live in the now and not the before. If you slip up, like we all do, you can have a new after. I am thankful that the Lord will forgive me. I have a laundry list of mistakes from the before. I try to forget them after being forgiven. It is not easy. But I live in the now as the Lord wants me to be healed, called,  cleansed, and commissioned.

Are you ready to live in the after? Are you able to let your before go and listen to what the Lord has in mind for you?

I am ready and able with the help of God.

%d bloggers like this: