Have you ever experienced a fresh start?

Perhaps you decided it was time to exercise and eat better. Or perhaps you began again with a close relationship. You hurt your loved one, but were offered forgiveness. It was time to start from scratch.

In Ezra’s time, God offered Israel a fresh start. They had spent decades in exile for worshiping other gods, but they were forgiven and God allowed them to return to Jerusalem to start anew.

Unfortunately, some had already forgotten the lessons of the past and married women from different religions. So, Ezra’s first act was to send these wives away, restoring a purity of worship throughout Israel.

We should be grateful for our fresh starts. But with every fresh start, there’s also a responsibility — to remember our past errors, to not compromise in even the smallest ways, and to rely on God above all others for the strength to succeed.

With the gift of His Son, God has returned us all from the exile of sin. Let us rejoice in this as we take seriously the task of rebuilding our lives in Him. And let us rely on God in everything we do.