by Tom Wacaster
In a musical production
of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” Albert Finney plays the part of Ebenezer
Scrooge. The move is a delightful reproduction of the classic Charles
Dickens novel wherein Mr. Scrooge, after being visited by three angels, comes
to repent of his past life, and determine that he is, from that point forward,
going to live a life that denies self and seeks to bless others. Of
particular interest in the musical to which I referred is the point in the
story where Scrooge comes to realize the great blessings he has in life and his
determination to “begin again,” putting his past behind him, and focusing
instead on making the “new man” he so desperately wants to be. The idea
of “beginning again” has intrigued mankind throughout the centuries. The
search for the proverbial “fountain of youth” has been the focus of myths,
music, and movies. In an attempt to ward off the “angel of death,”
scientists have searched for some magical potion, some hidden gene, or some
special dietary program that might allow them to recapture their youth and
extend their life.
Jesus once confronted a
Pharisee who had come to our Lord “by night,” and presented to him the distinct
possibility of “beginning again.” “Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).
Nicodemus immediately envisioned some kind of a physical rebirth wherein one
might “enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born again” (John
3:4). But our Lord assured him that this new birth, this “beginning
again,” was not something physical, but spiritual. It is a birth of “water and
the Spirit.” From a further study of the Scriptures we soon learn
that this new birth allows man to start over; to put his past behind him, and
begin again with a clean slate, a renewed hope, and a purpose in life. He
is provided forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38), entrance into the body of Christ
(Rom. 6:3), and is clothed with a new set of spiritual garments unstained by
the darkness of sin (Col. 3:12-14). Guilt and shame are shed like
some old garment, and the youth of spiritual strength allows the individual to
“mount up with wings as eagles… [to] run and not be weary; and…walk and
not faint” (Isa. 40:31).
The search for that
hidden gene that will somehow reverse aging is an exercise in futility. Medical
science might be able to make you look younger, feel better, and even extend
your life by a few years. But deep inside, within the soul of man, there
remains that empty feeling that our past still haunts us. Friend, the
only way to truly begin again is to experience the new birth through simple
obedience to our Lord. Hearing the word of God (Rom. 10:17), believing
(Heb. 11:3), repenting (Luke 13:3), making the good confession (Acts 8:36-37),
and being baptized into Christ are the necessary steps for this new
birth. Yes, there is a land of beginning again.
I’ll close with the following item I filed away more than three decades ago:
The Land of Beginning
Again
Author Unknown
"I wish that there
were some wonderful place
Called the Land of Beginning Again,
Where all our mistakes
and all our heartaches
And all of our poor selfish grief
Could be dropped like a
shabby old coat at the door
And never be put on again.
For what had been
hardest we'd know had been best,
And, what had seemed lost would be gain:
For there isn't a sting
that will not take wing
When we've faced it and laughed it away.
And I think that the
laughter is most what we're after
In the Land of Beginning Again!