Topic: The Only Way to Get a Fresh Start [RICK WARREN Devotional 20 December 2021]
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The Only Way to Get a Fresh Start
“In the past you were full of darkness, but now you are full of light in the Lord. So live like children who belong to the light. Light brings every kind of goodness, right living, and truth.”
Ephesians 5:8-9 (NCV)Several years ago, New York City officials built a water disinfection facility using ultraviolet light to destroy germs and disinfect the city’s drinking water, which is funneled in from about 100 miles away. Instead of using chlorine, the system uses the sun’s power to disinfect and sanitize water using light rays. They disinfect over 1 billion gallons of water every day.
Light is a great disinfectant. It cleanses, sanitizes, and purifies.
Also Read: Open Heaven 20 December 2021 –Topic: FRIEND OF A MOCKER?
The light of God works in a similar way in your life. Harmful words, thoughts, and actions make you spiritually, emotionally, and sometimes physically sick. When you confess your sins to God, his forgiveness sanitizes, purifies, and cleanses you.
The Bible says it like this: “If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:6-7 NIV).
So many people today are going through dark days because they’re carrying a load of guilt, shame, and regret. They may look successful on the outside, but inside they’re tormented by their secrets.
Is there a way to wipe the slate clean? Is there a way to get a fresh start? Yes, it’s called being born again. That doesn’t mean you turn over a new leaf and try harder. It means you get a brand-new life, where everything is forgiven. Everything is cleansed by the light of Christ, and the darkness of regret and shame is lifted.
Ephesians 5:8-9 describes what it means to be completely cleansed and forgiven of your sin and born again: “In the past you were full of darkness, but now you are full of light in the Lord. So live like children who belong to the light. Light brings every kind of goodness, right living, and truth” (NCV).
- How does the Christmas season sometimes expose the guilt or regret you’ve managed to repress the rest of the year?
- What are some ways you can “live like children who belong to the light” (Ephesians 5:8 NCV)?
- When you consider how so many people carry secret burdens of guilt and shame, how does that change the way you act or respond to people?