Great News // Fresh Start

Early morning wakeups, the smell of fresh sneakers, and crowded streets are all signs of the time! School is back in session. There is a lot of optimism that comes with a new beginning. It’s a fresh start. Everyone is on the same level with the same opportunities on day one. I always determined to make straight A’s on day one and I generally did! It was that first round of tests that got me. There was always a chance though on day one.

The new school year has me thinking about fresh starts. Fresh starts are different from second chances. I’ve had many second chances in my life and it’s a great gift. A second chance provides another opportunity to get something right when we’ve missed the mark. A fresh start voids the past mark and begins with a clean slate. Second chances and fresh starts are two different things.

Sometimes we think of the gospel like a second chance. We’ve missed the mark and God gives us a redo. That’s not the essence of the gospel. The gospel equals a fresh start. Jesus paid the cost of my sin not to give us a second chance but a fresh start. Day one of school was a needed reminder of the gospel’s essence. God doesn’t give us a second chance; it’s a fresh start.

The Apostle Paul expressed this fresh start in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!” New creation doesn’t sound like a second chance to me, it’s so much better. It’s a fresh start!

In Jesus we are saved, and we are being saved. It’s a paradox of following Jesus that always makes a fresh start possible. We don’t have to wait for the start of a school year for the possibility of all A’s. We’ve already been credited the A+ that Jesus earned on our behalf.

Do we make mistakes? Absolutely. Do we get a second chance when we do? It’s more like getting a fresh start. To abuse grace is to misunderstand its power. But grace is God’s limitless supply of fresh starts extended to the desperate sinner. Amazing grace!

Salvation is a fresh start into eternal life and sanctification makes the reality of the fresh start present every day. I’m so thankful that God extends fresh starts rather than a second chance. Think about today as a fresh start. There’s no need to redo the mistakes of yesterday. We are sitting on a fresh start.

22Because of the LORD’s faithful love we do not perish, for his mercies never end. 23They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness! Lamentations 3:22-23

Often, we get tangled up in negative thought patterns and behaviors because we keep approaching the gospel like a second chance. It’s not; it’s a fresh start. We embrace the gospel every day and we keep seeing it as a Jesus purchased clean slate. That’s amazing grace!