Everything Is New!

A Church bulletin board once read: "Whatever your past has been, you have a spotless future." That's right...there are new beginnings. Each day, and each hour, is such an opportunity.

In the book of Ezekiel, the prophet shared his visions, and out of these visions of wheels within wheels he sensed the gem of a great truth. There would be great destructions, there would be plagues and desolation, but out of it all, would come a Messiah. God would see that there would come a time, when they would receive cleansing for their sins. "A new heart will I give you", the prophet wrote, "and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you," (Ezekiel 36:26,27)

We are told of a person who came out of a rescue mission one night as a new man. Looking up, he pointed to the brilliant stars above him and exclaimed, "They are all new!" It is like the land of beginning again, when God's Spirit comes alive within the human heart.

The apostle Paul wrote: "Forgetting the things that are behind, I reach forward..." and years later, after many miles and years of serving his Master, Paul said, "If any person be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new." (II Cor. 5:17)

Every day, God invites us to take that first step with Him. It is the open door into the land of Beginning Again. It is the spiritual transplant of a new heart. It is the simple invitation of the Savior, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matt. 11:28)

At times, I feel desperately that inner "heart of stone". The day has gone poorly, my patience has been tried to the uttermost, my spirit has been negative, and my lips have spoken harshly. Then indeed, I must kneel before my Maker, and cry out for a "clean heart". The assurance is that God hears my prayer, and offers His cleansing power. The Psalmist said: "As far as the east is from the west, so far will I remove your transgressions from you." (Ps. 103:12)