By Diane Stortz
We rightly associate faith in Christ with new beginnings””but because of Jesus we can have new endings too.
Heaven is a new ending, of course. Death won”t be the final chapter! But what about new endings while we”re here on earth?
When Jesus left his home in Nazareth and began to teach and preach, he chose to announce his mission by reading aloud a passage from the book of Isaiah. It begins, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners” (Isaiah 61:1).
Healing, freedom, and restoration! Isn”t that what we need? Life on earth is not the way God created it to be. We”ve all been wounded by Satan, by the sins of others, or by our own bad choices. But Jesus came to heal and restore. Picture setting a broken bone and holding it in place with a cast until new growth occurs.
Paul wrote, “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think” (Romans 12:2, New Living Translation). When we know Jesus, we begin to think differently. As our thinking changes, what we do changes. And when what we do changes, we literally write new endings to our stories.
Have you experienced new endings in your life? What kind of ending are you currently writing? Do you need a new one? Life doesn”t have to stay the same. When we know Jesus, life shouldn”t stay the same.
At Communion we remember Jesus the way he asked us to. He said the bread represents his broken body and the cup represents his blood, poured out to seal a new agreement between God and us. Brokenhearted? He heals and helps us grow. Captive? He sets us free. Trapped in dark places? He transfers us to his kingdom of light. Jesus lived and died to help us write powerful new endings.
“Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ” (2 Corinthians 2:14)!
Diane Stortz is the author of A Woman”s Guide to Reading the Bible in a Year (Bethany House) and Bible storybooks and devotionals for children. Her newest book is I AM Devotional: 100 Devotions About the Names of God (Tommy Nelson).
Excellent word! Thank you, Diane. Lord willing, I’ll get the URL and lead to this article on the Christian Poets & Writers blog today, but I wanted to encourage you first by saying, I love your work! More, I love Christ’s work in you.