Conduct Cards

At the school where I teach, we use something called “conduct cards” as a form of discipline and to invoke a consequence when a student breaks a rule. If a student talks out of turn during class, is disrespectful to a classmate, or causes a disruption anywhere in the school, any adult can sign their conduct card, noting the incident and the student’s actions. You can look at the photo below to see what our conduct cards look like. 

Something wonderful happens at the end of every 9 weeks, however. My students were thrilled when quarter 1 ended and quarter 2 began because this meant they received new conduct cards. The old ones that their teachers had signed were tossed out, thrown away, garbage, old news. The reminder of their missteps was gone, and they were given a brand new, blank conduct card. Each and every student was given a fresh start, a new beginning of sorts, a clean slate with which to begin this second part of the school year. 

I share this with you because, for those in Christ, this is a picture of the new beginning we receive in Jesus. The Bible says that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). 

Jesus does not just wash away our sins. He does not just forgive us. Yes, He does those things, but He goes a step even further; He makes us brand new. The record of your mistakes is tossed away, never to be remembered or recounted, and in the eyes of our Lord, it is as if you have never sinned. 

What a glorious grace, what a marvelous mercy God gives us in the forgiveness accomplished by His Son Jesus. When you come to Him, you are made new. All the sin you have engaged in before is forgotten, and the sin you will commit is forgiven. 

As we approach this new year, don’t put your hopes for a new start in a date on the calendar, in “turning over a new leaf,” or in trying to invent a “new you.” The only way to be made new, to receive a new beginning, is to come to Christ. Let Him save you, change you, and make you a brand new creation.

Furthermore, if you are already a new creation, live like it! If my students were thrilled by the prospect of a blank, new piece of paper, how much more excited should we be that the record of debt that stood against us has been canceled (Colossians 2:14), and instead our names are recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Luke 10:20)? As we celebrate this new year, let us primarily celebrate the reality that we have been made new in Christ and share this truth with others.