Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh! Keep me from stupid sins, from thinking I can take over your work; then I can start this day sun-washed, scrubbed clean of the grime of sin. (Psalm 19:13, MSG)
Changing diets, exercise plans, better health choices…celebrating a new year often brings goals related to having a physically healthier body. In any other year, my gym is at max capacity during the first two weeks of January! This year there’s a run on home gym equipment instead. But what about our spiritual health – health on the inside vs. the outside?
I often look to the new year as the beauty of a clean slate. A moment to refocus, to launch some life changes and set new goals. But this year my heart has been feeling different. I sense Jesus talking to me about how he offers us something much, much better than an annual adjustment of priorities. Instead of a January 1st clean slate, he wants us to experience his fresh start every single day.
Sometimes we can see exactly why we need to begin again – it’s staring us right in the face and we’re desperate for a do-over. But sometimes the need is more subtle, and requires taking time with God, humbling ourselves and asking him what needs to change TODAY in our hearts and lives.
It could be a poor attitude, selfishness, lack of joy, shortage of gratitude, overindulging disobedience, disrespect to others or ourselves, miserable self-talk, forgetting to put others first, or an unwillingness to share our time, resources, and love. The list could go on and on. It can sometimes be hard to see the sin of our own hearts that needs healing.
There have been many times that Jesus has revealed something that I needed to be set free from, and when I’m willing to look closely at it I’ve felt that at times sin creeps in so stealthily I can’t even see it until Jesus helps point it out.
Recently, he has shown me that I needed to move to a quiet place away from my cell phone to be with him each morning. I’m so easily distracted with that silly thing that I have often missed out on the sweet moments with my Savior to look instead to the light up of a text coming through. What a crazy remarkable gift it is that we can go to Jesus for truth and clarity!
As a typical day comes to a close, I look back at the things that went well and what didn’t during that day. I consider what may have robbed me of peace and joy. If it was a rough day, I ask God’s forgiveness and to be set free. And then, with great thanks to Jesus, I celebrate that I don’t need to wait for January 1st to start anew. I can wake up to a fresh start, a clean slate, a “Happy New Day!”…each and every morning.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. (Hebrews 12:1, NIV)
When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive—right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ’s cross. (Colossians 2:15, MSG)
“I’ll forever wipe the slate clean of their sins.” (Hebrews 10:17, MSG)
Journal/Reflection questions:
- Are there areas of my life where I’m allowing Satan to rob me of the Holy Spirit’s JOY & PEACE? Jesus, please set me free and give me a clean slate so I can walk more closely with you.
- Listening prayer exercise to ask Jesus: “What area of my heart and spirit do you want me to address today so that I can walk in new freedom with you?”
Kathy Morgan has been married to her best friend, Bob, for over 38 years. Together they have four grown, married children and 9 grandchildren. Kathy is a Hospital Chaplain and loves mentoring women, hosting ministry events in her home, prayer, cooking, reading historical Biblical fiction, and eating all forms of potatoes.