Starting Over

 August 30, 2022

A sign in front of a local church that closed last year reads, “Behold, I make all things new!” It’s a quote from Revelation 21:5 where the risen Jesus reveals the new heaven and earth. It seems an odd statement to put on the sign of a closed church, but perhaps there is a plan unknown to those of us who drive by on a daily basis.

I got to thinking about that quote. We can read things so often that the language loses much of its meaning. We see the words but miss the point. So I decided that it could use a bit of updating to a more modern translation, but since I’m not a linguist, I’ll offer my paraphrase instead: “Look! I’m starting over!”

I like saying it like this because it means the same thing, but grabs my attention in a new way. No matter where we’ve been or what we’ve done or left undone, the promise of Jesus is a new start. From right where we are now, in the middle of the mess we created, Jesus says, “I’m starting over. I’m erasing the slate (Colossians2:14) because sometimes there’s no way of fixing the problem.” Things got so convoluted and twisted that the only remedy is to start over. Throw away all the past attempts and start fresh. 

Sometimes Jesus doesn’t try to make something good out of it all; like God did with Noah’s flood, he started fresh. The old self and my old situation is simply wiped clean—erased; Jesus says, “Now let’s start over at the beginning.” It means abandoning all my efforts to fix what I broke, going back to the start and beginning again, leaving the old baggage behind resigning the old habits and reactions to wherever the unclaimed baggage goes. Sometimes it’s best to not try to rescue it. Instead of trying harder, we begin anew. 

“I’m starting over” means leaving guilt behind (it never accomplishes anything good), abandoning my excuses for not changing, repenting (changing how I think). It means to stop judging others and giving Jesus the chance to rearrange and redo those parts of me that have gotten out of joint. It may mean to exercise more, eat better, get my rest, lay down the phone, live in praise and gratitude, and to trust him when all around seems dark and foreboding. Jesus didn’t say “I WILL make all things new;” he said “I MAKE (or am making) all things new.” Today is the day, now is the time…to start over.