You become a brand new person from within.

All mess up. You say things you later wish you could take back. You do things you wish you could undo. You miss opportunities. This happens in all spheres of your life. Sometimes you make mistakes at work, sometimes you hurt the people you love, and sometimes you disappoint God. And because you mess up, you’d like to start over—to turn your back on the past, to look forward, to hope that this time around, things are going to be better.

There’s something exciting about starting over—new challenges, new experiences, new opportunities. Yes, most would all like to start over, because the future holds the hope for something better?

Lost Hope. But things don’t always stay this way. After too many disappointments you often give up, you lose hope. You can only start over so many times before you begin to wonder, “What’s the point? What makes me think I’m not going to mess it up again?”

When you have decided to dedicate your life to Jesus, Jesus begins a new “act of creation” in your life. You aren’t merely reformed or rehabilitated. No, you are recreated. You become a brand new person from within. And you begin a brand new life.

God is the fountain of living water (Ps 36:9; Jer 17:13), Jesus is actually telling you, “Hey, I’m the Messiah! I’m what you’ve been longing for! I’m what you need in your life!” Begin to realize what He’s offering you—a brand new beginning—don’t feel like the pain is just too much and slam the door shut. In your mind the flesh wants to step away from His offer and throw up a smokescreen between yourself and the Messiah. The flesh changes the topic in your thoughts, tries to lure you away with an accepted debate, lure you away from your sin, lure you away from your disappointments, and lure you away from your pain.

It’s not easy to confront your failures, your disappointments, and your pain. In fact, it’s possible for you to get used to living in spiritual poverty, to live without hope. To hope again is scary. If you begin to hope again, you can be disappointed again. If you try to start over once more, you might just fail once more.

But however scary it might be to think of making a new start, that is exactly what the Bible is promising: “ If you are in Christ, you are a new creation.” 2 Cor 5:17:  the old has gone, the new has come!