WISDOM FOR LIVING DAILY DEVOTIONAL
JANUARY 01, 2026
TOPIC: SEIZING THE OPPORTUNITY FOR A NEW BEGINNING
BY T. O. BANSO
“Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more” (John 8:11b New King James Version).
In John 4, Jesus met a Samaritan woman. She had moved from one husband to another. During Jesus’ conversation with her at the well of Jacob, she said that she didn’t have a husband. Jesus replied, “You’re right! You don’t have a husband— for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now. You certainly spoke the truth!” (John 4:17-18 New Living Translation).
My focus is not on the details of Jesus’ conversation with her but on her life as revealed by Jesus. What kind of life was that? She had five husbands before, and the sixth she was living with at the time Jesus spoke with her was not her husband. What a mess! The Bible does not tell us the circumstances surrounding the many husbands this woman had, but her marital experience is not something any woman would pray for.
Apparently, the woman was jolted by Jesus’ revelation of her life’s condition. Jesus was a stranger, a Jew who had earlier asked her for a drink, but she had said Samaritans never associated with Jews. The Jews treated the Samaritans with contempt. Jews wouldn’t use the same things with Samaritans. This hatred came from the history of the Samaritans. They weren’t pure Jews but a mixed race. Samaritans hated the Jews, too.
Therefore, when a Jew she had never met before told her about her marital crises, this woman replied, “You must be a prophet.” She changed the topic of conversation from her marital life to religion, apparently to divert attention from her marital life, which she probably wasn’t proud of. But Jesus played along, answering her religious question about the differences between the Jews and Samaritans regarding where to worship (John 4:21-24).
The woman then told Jesus that she knew the Messiah, called Christ, would come to explain everything to them. When Jesus told her that He was the Messiah, she left her water pot, ran into the city to proclaim to the people, and invited them to come and see a man who told her everything she ever did. She asked, “Can this be the Messiah?” Probably Jesus told her more about her life than is recorded in the Bible, because she said Jesus told “me everything I ever did.” The Bible doesn’t record other things they discussed.
The Samaritan woman progressed from seeing Jesus as a Jew to seeing him as a prophet and eventually as the Messiah. She came to the realisation that the person she had been speaking with wasn’t an ordinary Jew but the Messiah they had been waiting for.
Despite the woman’s marital challenges, she became an ‘evangelist’: a proclaimer of the gospel. John 4:39 says, “Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, ‘He told me everything I ever did!’” (New Living Translation).
God didn’t disqualify the Samaritan woman because of her antecedents. People might have stigmatised her with her marital challenges, but to God, she was an instrument in His hand, waiting to be used. I believe that after Jesus’ encounter with this woman, she had a new beginning; her life changed.
What are the challenges in your life? What are the problems you have been through in life that have put you at a disadvantage? How have you been living your life? Have you been living in habitual sin? Do you know that God loves you despite the issues in your life or your sinful life? Notwithstanding how deep you have sunk into sin, God hasn’t given up on you. Jesus Christ died to save you, and God has a purpose for your life, which sin has blinded your mind to. Jesus accepted that Samaritan woman despite her past. He’ll not reject you if you come to Him today. Jesus said, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37 New King James Version).
No matter how bad you’ve lived your life, don’t run away from God. He loves you. Come to Him today. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17 New King James Version). That’s what God wants to do in your life if you are not yet born again. Invite Him into your heart. God hasn’t given up on you. You must be born again. If you gave your life to Jesus in the past but you’ve backslidden, return to Jesus now. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9 New International Version).
It doesn’t matter where you are in life today. It doesn’t matter what your crisis is – marital, career, financial, etc.- know that Jesus loves you. He’ll put the pieces of your life together and make you whole again. Jesus told the woman caught in adultery, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more” (John 8:11b New King James Version). Jesus gave her the opportunity for a new beginning.
God is calling you today; don’t try to divert attention from the crisis or mess in your life – don’t live in denial; face the reality today and turn over your life to Jesus. Jesus told the Samaritan woman, who had had five husbands and was living with a sixth man, that he was not her husband. Everyone must face the truths about his life.
Some people may have to face the reality that the women they’re living with now aren’t their wives, or the men they’re living with now aren’t their husbands. Some have to admit that they’re thieves, armed robbers, sexually immoral, murderers or drunkards. You may have to face the fact that the life you’re living now isn’t God’s kind of life for you; the business or work you’re doing now does not have God’s approval; the level you are in life now isn’t your level, the marriage you’re in now isn’t your marriage (it’s not what it used to be), etc. Stop pretending. You need a divine encounter! A divine turnaround is possible for you!
If God’s purposes for the lives of Rahab, Tamar, Bathsheba, Ruth, etc., in the Bible, could be fulfilled, there’s hope for you, too. If God could forgive and restore to the throne Nebuchadnezzar, whom He had dethroned and made to live in the forest with animals for seven seasons, He will give you also a new beginning (Daniel 4).
Even Manasseh, king of Judah, who killed many innocent people, filling Jerusalem from one end to the other with their blood, besides the sin that he had caused Judah to commit, so that they did evil in the eyes of the Lord, he received His forgiveness (2 Kings 21:16). God gave him another opportunity, which he used well. Like Nebuchadnezzar, he learnt his lessons. He became a changed man (2 Chronicles 33:11-16).
Look at the two criminals nailed to the cross with Jesus, and instead of taking advantage of the last opportunity he had to make his life right with God, one of them joined those mocking Jesus. He said, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!” (Luke 23:39 New Living Translation).
That criminal wasn’t wise. But look at his fellow criminal. He protested, “But the other criminal protested, ‘Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.’ Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom’” (Luke 23:40-42 New Living Translation). He was wise. He took advantage of the last opportunity he had to ask for forgiveness, and he got it. This hell-bound criminal got last-minute salvation because he believed in the Son of God. Verse 43 says, “And Jesus replied, ‘I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise’” (New Living Translation). Jesus gave that criminal a new beginning in paradise!
Even if someone is a hardened criminal, the door of salvation isn’t closed against him. Today is the day of salvation. Anybody who wants a new beginning can be saved today, even now. Hebrews 4:7b says, “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts” (New King James Version).
If you haven’t given your heart to Jesus yet, respond to God’s invitation now, this first day of the New Year. Surrender your heart to Jesus. Start the New Year with a new beginning, a new life in Christ Jesus. If you are born again, but you need a new beginning in any area of your life, don’t shy away from it. Seize the opportunity you have now.
TAKE ACTION!
If you are not born again, you must give your heart to Jesus now. Please take the following steps: *Admit that you are a sinner and you cannot save yourself, and repent of your sins. *Confess Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. *Renounce your past way of life – your relationship with the devil and his works. *Invite Jesus into your heart. *As a mark of seriousness to mature in the faith, start attending a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching, and Bible-practising church. There, they will teach you how to grow in the Kingdom of God.
Kindly say this prayer now: O Lord God, I come unto You today. I know I am a sinner, and I cannot save myself. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross to save me, and God raised Him on the third day. I repent of my sins and confess Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. I invite Jesus into my heart. By this prayer, I know I am saved. Thank You, Jesus, for saving me and making me a child of God.
I believe you have said this prayer from your heart. Congratulations! You must join a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching, and Bible-practising church where they will teach you how to live your new life in Christ Jesus. I pray that you flourish like a palm tree and grow like a cedar of Lebanon. May you grow into Christ in all things and become all God wants you to be. I will be glad to hear from you. The Lord be with you.
PRAYER POINTS: Father, I thank You for bringing me and others into 2026. I shall seize the opportunity for a new beginning in any area of my life where I need it. Father, I pray that those who need a new beginning in their relationships with You and others, or in any other area of their lives, will start it today with Your help.
(For over 900 in-depth and powerful messages by T. O. Banso, visit www.cedarministry.org).
T. O. Banso is the President of Cedar Ministry International, Abuja, Nigeria.
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