Discussion Thought of the Day:

¹⁶  Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. ¹⁷  Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! ¹⁸  All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. ¹⁹  God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing.     2 Corinthians 5:16-19 (MSG)

My son starts first grade today…and I am thinking of new beginnings…

Sometimes we fear them, we don’t know what the new teacher will be like, or the new classroom. Sometimes we leap toward the changes, hoping that a new start will make everything right.  The challenge is of course, what we take with us and what we are freed from, that falls, and is left forgotten.

Spiritually, each day and even each moment brings the same kind of new beginnings. We can find everything made new, reconciled, restored to the way in which God would have it, or we can dwell in the past, sure that people don’t change, that our spiritual debts can’t be cancelled, that life just simply trudges on.

The key to negotiating a successful change is not working harder, or promising to change how we do or think.  If we focus on our own efforts, it we look to ourselves and others… then change is destiend to fail.  Change is successful when we look to what Christ has done, when we look to how we are united with Him, how He has given us, really, a complete start…

Enjoy your new day… look at others and see Christ… rejoice in their sins, as well as yours being forgiven…

and if they don’t know this yet… it doesn’t mean that they cannot… for you are there to guide them on the first steps of this new journey…