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Breaking the Cycle Bible in a Year: Genesis 29–30 Matthew 9:1–17 If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17 Today's Scripture & Insight: 2 Corinthians 5:14–21 David’s first beating came at the hands of his father on his seventh birthday, after he accidentally broke a window. “He kicked me and punched me,” David said. “Afterward, he apologized. 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 years and twenties were spent in jail or on probation, and in and out of addiction treatment centers. When it felt like his dreams were entirely dashed, he found hope in a Christ-centered treatment center through a relationship with Jesus. “I used to be filled with nothing but despair,” David says. “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 lives shattered, whether by others’ wrongdoing or by our own, God takes our broken hearts and makes us new: “If anyone is in Christ, . . . the old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Christ’s love and life breaks into the cycles of our past, giving us a new future (vv. 14–15). And it doesn’t end there! Throughout our lives, we can find hope and strength in what God has done and continues to do in us—each and every moment. Reflect & Pray Where were you headed when you received Jesus as your Savior? How does it help to know that God continues to shape your life to increasingly resemble His? Dear God, thank You for interrupting the downward trajectory of my life and making me a new creation! Make me ever more like You. 
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I was just going along, filled with all kinds of emotions of despair, unhappiness, worthlessness, and even guilt from a deep dark secret I carried, that I couldn't and wouldn't let anyone else see. To others, I was just a happy, fun loving and joking kid, but many times I thought of running away, just disappearing, or even dying. When I received Christ as my Savior, nothing on the outside changed right away, circumstances were still the same, but I began to sense a kind of peace and love deep inside that I'd never known before. That kept me going when I would start to get those thoughts again. Be a prism, spreading God's light and love, not a mirror reflecting the world's hatred.
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