5:95 – Fresh start every day

#faithbites #faithjourney

Intro

We all make mistakes. Some big, some small, all not what we wanted to happen. I often wonder what would have happened if I did something different. Sometimes I even punish myself for something that was in the past and I was forgiven for, but I can’t forgive myself.

Today’s #faithbites comes from an image shared by a friend on Facebook. Ralph Waldo Emerson reminds us to forget yesterday and our blunders as tomorrow is a new day. He finishes it that we have “too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”

Our faith tells us the same thing. Jesus forgives us all our sins if we ask him for forgiveness. There are no more tallies and no blemishes on us. We are fresh for the new day.

Questions

• Do you see each day as fresh?
• How do you approach new days?
• If the new day is fresh to you, do you let it be fresh for others?

Scripture

• Isaiah 43:18-19 – “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. ¹⁹ Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
• Romans 6:3-4 – Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
• Philippians 3:13-14 – Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
• 1 John 1:7 – But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
• Isaiah 1:18 – “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

Reflection

There are only so many ways to say it: Yesterday was yesterday and today is new. We have to let the past go. Christ cleanses us with His forgiveness and sees the sins no more. We are fresh as newly fallen snow. Whiter as new wool. It doesn’t exist in God’s eyes. Yet, even though we are fresh, we often keep punishing ourselves for something we did. We have to let go of the ‘nonsense’. It’s not easy but when we do, we stop holding ourselves back. We are able to move forward. While we know this, we often can’t embody it. They say the farthest distance is the 18 inches between our head on heart.

As we close, remember, don’t get hung up by yesterday. Make amends, ask for forgiveness from Jesus, and accept it. Even if someone else doesn’t forgive you, you have been made clean as you accepted that you missed the mark (sinned) and are moving forward.

Prayer

Father God, through you and your son you forgive us and let us have a fresh start each day. We pray that you help us accept that fresh start and not be bogged down by our past mistakes. We love you and thank you for this gift. In your name, we pray, Amen.