In the Beginning?
New beginnings can be seen everywhere in the world around us. There are beginnings to new days, new weeks, new school years, and even new seasons. With each of these beginnings, the old passes away and we start fresh. Today becomes yesterday, sophomore year becomes junior year, and summer turns into fall. These beginnings are obvious and ultimately inevitable, but what about beginnings with God? We know that our Father, is the beginner of all things. He is the Almighty Creator as we see in Genesis 1. He created the earth and everything that is held in it. From the tiniest blade of grass, all the way to the vast expanses of waters, everything began with God. God is also the creator of human life. We see in Genesis 1:26 that God created man in the His likeness. We can also see in Ps.139:13 that God knitted us together in our mothers’ wombs, and in Jeremiah 1:5 that he knew us before we were born.
Alongside of all of the beginnings God has blessed us with, from creation to our own lives, there is a special beginning that we can be a part of: starting a relationship with Him. We are so blessed by God to be the only chosen creatures to have a loving relationship with our Father. He has called us to follow Him, and longs for us to share a loving bond with Him. We read in John6:40 that it is the will of God for everyone to believe and have eternal life. He longs for us all to be in heaven with Him one day, but sadly He knows that this will not be the case for everyone (Luke13:23-24). So how do we start a relationship with our Father? Well, in order to know God, we must first hear His word (Romans 10:17). Then we must come to believe what we hear and read is true (John 3:16). Next, we must repent of our sins (Luke 13:3), confess Christ’s name (Romans 10:9, and then be baptized for our sins (Acts 8:35-40), ridding us of the old and starting a new life with Christ. But let us not believe that that is the end. We must continue to live for Christ, to deny ourselves and this world daily, and live faithfully until we reach heaven (Revelation 2:10). Sometimes though, living faithfully isn’t always easy, and being humans we fall short, and this calls for us to begin to change. When we have started our relationship with God but have let sin bring us down, His forgiveness is always there allowing us begin anew each day.
Beginnings big and small happen around us all of the time. Some are important while others are futile, but just remember out of all of the beginnings we should strive to start, it is beginning and maintaining a relationship with God, who loves us immensely.
-Hannah Smith
Beginning With God