fresh starts

It just crossed my mind that there are a lot of fresh starts/new beginnings this time of year:

January 1, New Year's Day, the start of a new year,

School is starting back after Christmas break for a large number of students and teachers - tomorrow is the start of the spring semester at the university where I teach,

January 20 is the day the next U. S. President takes office and begins a possible new direction for our nation,

And, hopefully it won't be TOO long until spring starts and then baseball season begins!

These things make me think of the well-known passage in the gospel of John:

"Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, 'Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.' In reply Jesus declared, 'I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again....For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.' " -John 3:1-3, 16-17

God gives us a new beginning through baptism - we are born again. Our sins are wiped clean, and we have a fresh start.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" - II Corinthians 5:17

"...everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name." Acts 10:43b

I remember a student of mine once telling me that she had a debt that she needed to pay. She had worried about this debt for a long time, but did not have the means to pay it off. When she finally had collected enough money to pay it back, she was told that she no longer owed the money! She told me that at that point, she really understood what Jesus has done for us - he has wiped the slate completely clean for us, and has given us a fresh start, a chance to be a new person dedicated to the Lord!