Starting again

You can start again with God today, whatever you have done and however many times you have tried before. Starting again does not mean pretending it did not happen, and it does not mean waiting until you feel worthy. It means turning back to God, confessing plainly, receiving his forgiveness through Christ, putting right what you can, and then taking the next small, faithful step. The consequences of what you did may remain for a long time. Your welcome from God does not have to wait for them to clear.

Scripture is full of people who failed badly and began again: David after adultery and murder, Peter after denying Jesus three times, a son who wasted his father’s money and came home with nothing. None of them started from a clean record. All of them started from mercy.

Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness! — Lamentations 3:22-23

Mercy is new this morning too

Those lines were written in the ruins of Jerusalem after the city had been destroyed. The book of Lamentations does not pretend the damage is small; most of it is grief. But in the middle of the grief comes this confidence: God’s mercy is not used up. Each morning it is new.

That means you do not have to wait for a clean date, the start of a year or a month or a week, to begin again. This morning’s mercy is enough for this morning. Tomorrow there will be more.

The father ran

Jesus told the story of a younger son who demanded his inheritance, left home and spent it all. Starving, he rehearsed a speech and walked back, expecting at best to be taken on as a servant.

So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still in the distance, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. — Luke 15:20

The son begins his speech, but he never reaches the part where he asks to be made a servant. The father is already calling for the household.

But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. — Luke 15:22

Jesus told this story to show what God is like. The son did not earn his way back. He simply came, and the father did the rest. If you are rehearsing your own speech, with conditions and promises, you may find that God is not interested in hearing it through. He is interested in having you home.

Peter was given his work back

On the night Jesus was arrested, Peter, who had promised to die with him, denied three times that he even knew him, and then went out and wept bitterly. After the resurrection, Jesus met him by the lake and asked him the same question three times.

Jesus asked a third time, “Simon son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was deeply hurt that Jesus had asked him a third time, “Do you love Me?” “Lord, You know all things,” he replied. “You know I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep. — John 21:17

Three denials, three questions, three commissions. Jesus did not pretend the denial had not happened; the third question hurt precisely because it recalled it. But he did not leave Peter defined by it either. He gave him work to do. Starting again with God is not only being forgiven. It is being given a future.

Starting again is not starting from nothing

There is a false kind of new start that tries to skip the hard parts. Real beginnings usually include some of these.

Honest confession to God. Name what you did, without excuse. The guide on how to confess to God, plainly sets out a simple pattern.

Putting right what can be put right. An apology, repayment, telling the truth where you lied. Forgiveness from God does not cancel what you owe to people you harmed. The guide on restitution explains why and how.

Accepting what cannot be undone. Some trust will take years to rebuild, and some relationships may not recover. That is painful, but it is not the same as being rejected by God. The guide on living with a past that can’t be undone goes further.

The prophet Micah captures the posture well. He speaks while still sitting in the consequences, not after they have lifted.

Though I have fallen, I will arise; though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light. — Micah 7:8

What forgetting what is behind does and does not mean

Paul, who had once hunted down and imprisoned Christians, wrote this.

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus. — Philippians 3:13-14

Paul did not literally forget his past. He mentions it several times in his letters, with sorrow. What he refused to do was let it set his direction. He faced forward. He knew what he had been; he also knew what Christ had made him.

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come! — 2 Corinthians 5:17

A way to begin today

Keep it small. Grand plans tend to collapse by the end of the week.

1. Confess what you did, plainly, to God, today.
2. Receive his forgiveness by reading a promise and thanking him for it.
3. Choose one thing to put right and do it, or plan when you will.
4. Tell one trusted Christian what happened and that you are starting again.
5. Build one daily habit: a psalm in the morning, a few honest words of prayer at night.
6. Go to church this Sunday, even if you sit at the back.
7. Expect setbacks and decide now that a bad day will not become a reason to stop.

If starting again feels impossible

Sometimes shame after a failure turns into hopelessness, and the thought comes that everyone would be better off without you. That thought is not the truth, and it is not from God. If you have thoughts of ending your life or harming yourself, please contact someone now: in the US or Canada call or text 988, in the UK and Ireland call Samaritans on 116 123, in Australia call Lifeline on 13 11 14, or find a local line at https://findahelpline.com. Then tell a doctor and someone you trust.

Where Christians differ

Christians agree that God fully forgives the repentant. Churches differ on what starting again should look like for someone who fell while in a position of trust, such as a pastor or leader. Some expect a long period of restoration before any return to leadership; some hold that certain failures rule it out permanently; others restore more quickly. These are questions of wisdom and church order, not of whether God forgives.

The next step is an ordinary one

You do not have to see the whole road. Turn to God now, in your own words. Read Lamentations 3 tomorrow morning. Find a church and let other forgiven people walk with you. The God of new mornings is patient with people who begin again, and again.