Have you ever been in a situation where you wished you could turn the clock back and try a part of your life over again? Or maybe you wish you could go somewhere and start all over with a fresh start.

Sometimes life gets pretty tough and we wish we could somehow start over new in a place where nobody knows us, nobody knows our history, our failures, our big goof-ups, nor our hang ups or even our fears.

Even one of the Bible writers felt this way when he said in Psalm 55, “My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death assail me. Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me. I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest – I would flee far away and stay in the desert; I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm.” (Psalm 55:4-8)

It sounds like he was looking for a fresh start.

The message of Good Friday and Easter Sunday is about starting over; getting a fresh start in life.

Jesus spoke to a man named Nicodemus about being “born again.” Nicodemus thought that was a crazy idea because it was impossible to start over back in his mother’s womb. But what Jesus was talking about was really a fresh new start; a chance to start living a new life, right where we are at this moment.

He explained how this could happen in a verse that is probably one of the most popular verses in the Bible: John 3:16. It says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His One and only Son, that whoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have eternal life.”

Personalize that verse in your own life. God so loved you, that He gave His One and only Son (Jesus Christ) that if you believe in Him, you will not perish (be separated from God and all His goodness forever; separated to a horrible lonely place of suffering and unleashed evil).

If you believe in Him, you will have eternal life (the eternal presence of God and all His goodness and love in a glorious place prepared especially for us). That is the way to a new and fresh start in life.

Good Friday is the day we remember that Jesus died on the cross. He gave His life as a sacrifice for our sins. He came so we could have an opportunity for a fresh new start. What happened on Easter Sunday morning is that Jesus arose from the dead. He left the tomb, fully alive and completely restored, absolutely conquering death and never to die again.

What does that mean for us? Death of this physical body is not the end. What makes us, us, our self, who has believed in Jesus, who have committed to follow Him, will have the gift of eternal life. We will live forever beyond the grave in a glorious place that is completely free from sin and all the effects of sin. That is an incredible place prepared for you, if you believe and look to Jesus.

Want a fresh new start? Want to put the past behind you? Want to have a brighter future with hope and a new profound sense of joy within. Jesus opened the way for it to happen, for real. That’s what Good Friday and Easter (Resurrection Sunday) is all about. It’s more than a holiday. It is a major turning point in many lives. And can be in yours, too.

Want to find out more about it? Contact any Bible-believing pastor in our community. Or contact me at the Church of the Nazarene. I will be glad to tell you more about it.

Dan Wiese is the pastor of John Day Church of the Nazarene.