Breaking the cycle

Breaking the cycle

Bible:2 Corinthians 5:11-21

Reading

If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is
here! (V.17).

David’s first beating came at the hands of his dad on his seventh birthday, after he accidentally broke a window. “He kicked me and punched me . . . Later he said sorry. He was an abusive alcoholic, and it’s a cycle I’m doing my best to end now.” But it took a long time for David to get to this point. Most of his teen years and twenties were spent in jail or on probation, and in and out of addiction treatment centres. When it felt like his dreams were completely destroyed, he found hope when someone introduced him to Jesus. “I used to be filled with nothing but despair,” David said. “Now I’m pushing myself in the other direction. When I get up in the morning, the first thing I tell God is that I’m surrendering my will over to Him.” When we come to God with broken, messy and even abused lives, no matter whose fault it all is, God takes us just as we are and makes us brand new: “If anyone is in Christ . . . the old has gone, the new is here!” (2 CORINTHIANS 5:17). Jesus’ love breaks the cycles of our past, giving us new strength and a new direction to go in (VV.14-15). And it doesn’t end there! Throughout our lives, He never stops making us more like Himself (3:18).

WHATEVER CYCLES WE’RE STUCK IN
—JESUS PROMISES TO BREAK THEM.

Youth Edition – Our Daily Bread Ministries