Every August, our homeschooling year started the same way. After the brown delivery truck left our driveway, four excited children would eagerly tear open the boxes of curriculum. Workbooks and teacher's guides would be laid on the floor and quickly checked against the packing slip. Then, like openings gifts on Christmas morning, my children would delightfully spend the rest of the day thumbing through the pages of their new curriculum. Inevitably, the fresh, colorful workbooks caused everyone to become so motivated, we would begin homeschooling the very same day.
Fresh starts are even more exciting in the Christian life. Helping someone come to an understanding of sin and a knowledge of the joy of God's forgiveness is by far the greatest blessing you can experience. The eager anticipation and thirst for God in a new believer is contagious. Wanting to grow and know God more deeply through His Word, these new Christians pass their enthusiasm to older saints and challenge them to grow in their faith as well.
When was the last time you told someone about the saving love of Jesus? If your walk with God seems dry and worn out, today's the day to give yourself and someone else a fresh start in Christ. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Lord, thank You for the exciting message of Your forgiveness and love! Help me to share it anew today with someone who desperately needs to experience Your grace. In Jesus' name, Amen.
