OPENING DAY

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

This past week marked opening day of the 2010 baseball season in major league baseball. Many of you are probably thinking who cares, but for baseball fanatics like me it is an exciting time. It is a time of fresh starts and renewed hope. At the end of last season, the Washington Nationals were the worst team in baseball. They won 59 games and lost 103. They were 33 games out of first place. Guess where they were when this season started? Equal with everyone else. How many times have you heard, “Wait till next year?” That sentiment is based on the fact that next year represents a new start. What if the seasons were cumulative? What if they started this year where they ended last year? According to the “experts,” the Nationals do not have much of a chance for winning their division this year, but what if they started the season 33 games out of first place? It is great to have a chance for a fresh start.

Paul tells us I the above verse that we can have a fresh start. In John 3, Jesus speaks of it as being born again. In Romans 6, Paul talks of walking in newness of life. When we obey the gospel, culminating in being baptized into Christ, our sins are forgiven, washed away. In 1 Corinthians 6, beginning in verse 9, Paul gives a list of some who will not inherit heaven: fornicators, idolaters, homosexuals, thieves, drunkards, etc. Then in verse 11 he says, “And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” One of the words he used to describe their status was “justified.” I have often heard this word defined as “just as if I’d” never sinned. David writes, Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psalm 51:7). When we become a Christian, it is like opening day. The past is past and we have a fresh outlook, a renewed hope.

There is also the hope provided to the Christian who sins. 2 Peter 3:9 says that God does not want any to perish and this applies to the erring Christian as well as the alien sinner. When a Christian sins, God’s grace is available for a new start. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Many people have tried to have a fresh start in life. They buy a new house or car, move to a different city, try to change their personality, go to therapy, etc. Most do not realize they are looking in the wrong place. In order to really get a fresh start we must renew the inner man, and the only way to do that is through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
--Lamar