New Year. New Beginnings.

"For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." (Hebrews 8:12)

Early in our marriage, my wife and I were fortunate to participate in a Bible study that gave some great marriage advice, especially when it came to the subject of conflict in marriage.  One of the thoughts that stuck with me over the years was that when you are in the middle of a marriage conflict, do not get historical.  You might think I meant to say do not get hysterical, that is good advice also, but the point I remembered was not to get historical. This means we should avoid pointing out things like, "remember the time you did that, or you always say that." It is easy to bring up past grievances when we are in conflict because it is hard for us to forget when we have been hurt.

Today's scripture verse indicates that when we ask God for forgiveness, God will not only forgive our sins, but he will not get historical and bring them back up the next time we sin.  Instead, when God forgives our wickedness, God sees Jesus Christ who took on our sins so that we could stand pure and blameless. What a great thought as we go into a new year!

May I pray for us?

Prayer

Father God, we come to you asking forgiveness for the sins we have committed to you and to those you have called us to love. Thank you for not getting historical, but instead choosing to forget our sins. I pray that we can love you deeper, know you more fully, and extend that love to those in our community. Amen

Today's episode was written and presented by Owen Ragland.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.