Forty years ago, in my grad-school chapel, the guest speaker George Sweeting said, “Life is a series of new beginnings.” That may have been the only time he made that statement, but it settled in my heart and had a profound effect on my life then and has been a guiding principle ever since. Most baby boomers like myself were brought up being taught we should work hard, become successful, and settle down. But the reality is life never works that way. Change, either by choice, or through circumstances, or by failure, will happen. The question for us is how do we respond.
First realize, failure doesn’t mean your life is over. It presents an opportunity to begin again with greater understanding. A reporter asked Thomas Edison how it felt to fail 10,000 times? His response, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” World circumstances are forcing people to make new beginnings, even if they don’t want to. The most important element of a new beginning is letting go of the past. You must break free from defining yourself by your past. Yesterday’s failures and sins can only impair you if you dragged them with you. “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending” (C. S. Lewis).
We may choose to make a new beginning. Maybe you have arrived at your goal. Maybe your career has reached a dead end. God is about new beginnings and not patching up the broken pieces of yesterday. He wants you to get rid of the old and take hold of the new He creates. Paul instructs us . . . lay aside the old self . . . and put on the new self (Eph 4:22, 24). Saul put off his old life as a legalistic Pharisee and put on his new life as Paul the apostle to the Gentiles, preaching grace and freedom. Our new beginnings can mean a new job, a move to a new location, a new relationship, a new career, or a new phase of life from adulthood to senior citizen.
For me, it was giving up my career as an electronic engineer and fulfilling God’s calling on my life to teach and preach the Gospel around the world. Changing careers in middle-age is difficult because it requires leaving the safety of our comfort zone. Your first step toward a new beginning requires faith and trust in God. “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step” (Martin Luther King Jr.). I had achieved my parent’s teaching; I was successful and settled but uncomfortable.
I hung up the phone after turning down a high-level job with the state and called my current employer and gave my resignation. That was my first step with no idea of the ending. But I was at peace when I drove away from our home with the last load of furniture headed to a new city three hours away. I have never regretted that act of faith or all the new beginnings that have followed. Did I fail or sin after that? More than you can count, but I asked forgiveness and with the help of the Holy Spirit, I moved on.
An ancient philosopher wrote, “The secret to change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” Too often, we allow the past to enslave us to the point that we never enjoy the Christian life God wants for us. “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).
“Ok! We’re two days into the new year and nothing has changed—the pandemic, conflicts around the world, persecution of Christians, etc. So what now?” New beginnings start with a change in our hearts and minds. Look at a calendar of 2020, write across it, “HISTORY”. Yesterday is gone with its failures, regrets, sins, hurts, and troubles. You can’t go back and change it. The past has no more power than what you give it. Like Edison, look at it as 10,000 ways, life doesn’t work, and allow the Holy Spirit to begin a new work in you. He may take you into a new career, a new standard of living, or to fulfill His calling on your life. By faith, embrace God’s sovereign ability to show you where to go, what to do, and the ability to do. He will give you a full life in the emptiest of places. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. (Rom 8:28 MSG).
The Lord assured Israel He could make new ways where they saw no way. Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert (Isaiah 43:19 HOL).
Sustaining Word for the Week: It is too soon to quit; you’re just at the beginning.