Starting Over
By Pastor Jack Hayford
I hear a loud, clear call of the Spirit these days: "Repent
and do the first works"
(Revelation 2:5).
It resounds from the heart of Jesus and summons from the written
Word of God. It is a herald to us for the beginning weeks of each
new year.
We are standing on holy ground. By any measure or estimate, we
have come through a cycle of years. I can put my finger on a number
of such cycles:
...The years since Anna and I received our call to ministry
...The years since we began our service here at The Church On
The Way.
...The years since our congregation received a special intercessory
assignment from the Lord.
You supply your own numbers and milestones. How many years since
you surrendered to Jesus as Lord of your life...since you stood
and repeated vows before the Lord with the one who would become
your life partner...since His spirit led you into the church where
you find fellowship...since you turned your back on some besetting
sin...since you submitted to the Spirit's call for a special area
of service?
That cycle of years is, I am convinced by the Lord, intended to
bring us to a place of starting over. Please note that I said starting
over. I did not say beginning
again.
Is there a difference? Oh, yes.
To start over is
to return to your roots and nourish them. It is to assure yourself
that you remember what it is that makes you tick.
For senators and congressional representatives, it's getting back
to their home states and districts; walking the streets, neighborhoods,
boroughs, parishes, and precincts. It's sipping coffee with citizens
in the diners and lunchrooms. It's getting behind the mike on local
radio call-in programs, and holding town meetings.
For professional athletes, it's participating in off-season camps
and clinics and drills that reemphasize the fundamentals of the
game.
For Monopoly buffs, it's returning to "GO" and, best
of all, "collecting $200!"
Starting over doesn't involve loss, but it does require humility.
And that has an assured reward.
Beginning again,
on the other hand, is what you do when a tornado destroys the farm.
When a storm washes away the bridge. When an earthquake rips the
house off its foundation. When moral failure poisons the purity
of trust in a relationship.
The Lord, who calls us to return to those things which His Word
teaches and which release the power of His presence among us, is
not making a statement about anything being so lost, ruined, or
wrecked that there is nothing of spiritual capital with which to
start afresh.
But He is saying that our assignment is to become as children all
over again. To kneel again at the altar of our first commitment.
To return to our first love. To perform our first works.
So renewed, we will be mightily released unto His highest purpose
and praise.
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Jack
Hayford Ministries
14800 Sherman Way, Van Nuys, CA 91405-2233