Fresh Start Effect 新起点效应
Dexu Xia
[Put] on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Colossians 3:10
When Bryony turned thirty, she was sad to still be in a sales job she’d never liked. She decided it was time to stop procrastinating and find a new career. For David, New Year’s Eve had him looking in the mirror vowing this would be the year he lost weight. And for James, it was watching another month pass without his angry outbursts decreasing. Next month, he promised himself, he would try harder.
If you’ve ever vowed to change at the start of a new month, new year, or a major birthday, you’re not alone. Researchers even have a name for it: the fresh start effect. They suggest that at calendar points like these we’re more prone to assess our lives and try putting our failures behind us to start over. Wanting to be better people, we long for a fresh start.
Faith in Jesus speaks powerfully to this longing, offering a vision of what our best selves can be (Colossians 3:12–14) and calling us to leave our past selves behind (vv. 5–9). It offers this change not by decisions and vows alone, but by divine power. When we believe in Jesus, we become new people, and God’s Spirit works in us to make us whole (v. 10; Titus 3:5).
Receiving salvation in Jesus is the ultimate fresh start. And it doesn’t need to wait for a special calendar date. Your new life can start right now.
How have you seen the fresh start effect at work in your life? What’s stopping you from receiving God’s gift of a new life now?
Jesus, I give up my own plans to follow Yours. Please give me a fresh start!
To gain a better understanding of the Bible this year.
穿上了新人。这新人在知识上渐渐更新，正如造他主的形像。—歌罗西书3章10节
在步入三十岁时，宝妮对自己还在做不喜欢的销售工作而感到难过，她决定停止拖延，开始寻找新工作。在除夕夜，达威对着镜中的自己发誓，新的一年一定要减重。一个月又过去了，但家铭依然暴躁易怒，他保证自己下个月会更努力地控制情绪。
如果你也曾在新的一个月、新的一年，或重要的生日当天立志要有所改变，那么你并不是唯一的一个。研究人员甚至将此命名为“新起点效应”。他们认为在这些特殊的日子，我们会倾向于检视自己的生活，尝试把失败抛诸脑后，重新开始。我们想成为更好的人，也渴望有个新的起点。
接受耶稣的救恩就充分地体现了这种渴望，这让我们预见一个最好的自己（歌罗西书3章12-14节），并呼召我们脱离过去不好的行为（5-9节）。接受耶稣后所带来的改变，并不是单靠个人的意志或誓言，而是倚靠上帝的大能。当我们相信耶稣时，我们就成为新的人，上帝的圣灵会在我们里面动工，使我们逐渐成为完全（10节；提多书3章5节）。
接受耶稣的救恩是一个全新的开始，这不需要等到某个特殊的日子，你现在就可以开始拥有新的生命！
“新起点效应”曾如何在你生活中起作用？
是什么拦阻你此刻接受上帝所赐的新生命？
耶稣，我愿放弃自己的谋算来跟随祢的计划。
求祢赐我一个全新的开始！