2020 was bound to be memorable for people around the world. In China, over 2,900 people died and 80,000 people were infected with coronavirus. In Australia, it is estimated thousands of animals died during the bushfire season. In East Africa, about 23.6 million people face food crisis after the attack of 400 billion locusts.
Let’s also not forget the flood in Indonesia, rainstorm in Brazil and volcano eruption in the Philippines, which all led to serious casualties. We began the first two months of 2020 with pain, sorrow and fear. It is no wonder that many people wish they could restart it.
Nothing new under the sun
If 2020 can be restarted, what do you want to do? To cherish family time even more? To be free from the fear of diseases and hunger? To enjoy nature and creations as much as possible?
It’s natural for people to desire what they used to enjoy before accidents happened. However, if our thoughts still focus on where we were before, we will miss the valuable lesson that we should have learned.
What we desire is like a drop in the sea, comparable with what Adam and Eve once enjoyed in the Garden of Eden, where the climate is pleasant to live, no hard labor and full of palatable fruit. Most importantly, they met with God face to face and walked with Him! However, they sinned and were driven out from the presence of God. Since then, men toiled their way back to God, but they just couldn’t.
Sin not only destroys the relationship between men and God, but also the creations in the world. What happened today is nothing new in human history.
Without repairing the relationship with the true and only God, human heart sinned to its uttermost. In the history of Israel, God judged sin through the flood, sulfur and fire in Sodom and Gomorrah, the exile in Babylon, and the list can go on.
What we have experienced today doesn’t have to do with God’s judgement, but they are all consequences of sin.
Repent and reborn
Now does restarting your life in a sinful world still sounds attractive to you? Have you realized that men were given the chance to restart their lives in the past 2,000 years? It just never worked out with their own methods.
Every path men tried was like quenching the thirst with chronic poison. It resolved the pain in the short term, but the problem repeated itself differently next time. It’s time to reflect on our sin and look up to the Savior, as we are not the solution, but the very problem.
Instead of seeking a temporary solution, how does an eternal solution sound to you?
Repent and believe in Jesus Christ! With your sins covered by Jesus, you are no longer God’s enemy but a member of God’s family. You will have eternal life as a free gift, with the assurance of Jesus’ blood. Moreover, the Holy Spirit will dwell in you and guide you into all the truth.
Aren’t those wonderful gift packs? I believe it is worth more than what we plan to obtain.
Restart with eternal hope
Even though salvation is a free gift, it’s a powerful dynamite that changed Peter and Paul’s entire lives!
Peter was one of the early disciples who followed Jesus and claimed that he would never deny Him. However, he failed three times within one night, but Jesus restored him afterwards. Later on, Peter restarted his life in following Jesus and devoting his life in shepherding Christ’s sheep.
Paul, once called Saul, persecuted Christians before he met the resurrected Christ. However, after his acquaintance with Jesus, he converted and diligently shared the gospel among Gentiles and planted churches across Asia.
If you ever think of restarting your life in 2020, restart it by following Peter and Paul’s example. Repent of your sin and know Jesus, and be a part of God’s family, for He knows better how to manage your life!
Cindy Cheng was born and brought up in central China. Cindy enjoys travelling and reading history books. Cindy is inspired by talking with local people when travelling abroad experiencing different parts of the world, as well as herself.
Cindy’s previous articles may be found at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/cindy-cheng.html