Isaiah 43:14-45:10
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. (NIV)
How many of you would love to have another turn to live your life? A fresh start in your life? We have experienced many setbacks and failures throughout our lives and sometimes we allow these mistakes, these setbacks and failures to enslave us to the point that we never enjoy the full Christian life that God has given us to enjoy.
In John’s Gospel, Jesus said, “I am come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10). The good news is, God says, “I want you to have a fresh start in life, I want you to have a new beginning, I want to do something new in your life.” That is a major element of what our Christian faith is all about – the opportunity to start fresh. To do something new with our life.
This is a constant theme in the Scriptures. Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans (Rom 6:4) that through baptism, our old life is buried, in order that we “we may live a new life.” He also wrote in his letter to the Corinthians, (2 Cor 5:17), “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
We need to understand that God is far more interested in our future than He is in our past. Some people think that God is stuck on their past. That all He wants to do is remind them of the things that they have done wrong. But He says, “Forget about your past. Forget about the former things. Don’t think about it. Look at the new thing I’m going to do.”
If you are continually looking behind you cannot see where you are going, worst then that, you cannot see where God wants to lead you.
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