New Year. New Beginnings.

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

In the faces of the little children and babies that were taken hostage in the Hamas attack on Oct 7th, I saw pure innocence; precious little ones, unblemished by sin, used so spitefully. Their sweet faces came to mind as I tried to imagine God’s pain as He gave Christ over as a hostage to sin, to pay for our sin! 

When I read today’s Scripture, I pictured the baby Jesus, so recently celebrated during Advent, as one of those helpless young hostages ripped from His Father's arms. In that picture, I found more empathy with what God’s pain might have been, as He made that sacrifice of allowing His beloved Son to become sin for us. God freely handed over Jesus, in exchange for us, so that we could become righteousness of God! 

What an unpayable debt! What an unbelievable gift! What a great LOVE God must have for us! We should fall on our knees and beg God to forgive us that we fail to realize the magnitude of our debt, the magnitude of His sacrifice, and His LOVE! 

We can never thank you sufficiently, God, even if we thank you with our every breath! But perhaps that’s the point! The gift is incomprehensible! It is a gift of such magnitude that no human mind can fully understand! And no human can ever really pay it back! But it is just the kind of gift that Pure Love would give! God is LOVE and LOVE knows no bounds! God gives freely of everything He has and only asks that we love Him and our neighbor in return. 

In this new year of 2024, perhaps we could remind ourselves of this great gift more often and take the time to show our gratitude every day, by offering more LOVE to our neighbors, by offering more of ourselves to God’s service, by sharing more generously, giving more freely, and serving more regularly. Perhaps we could even show some love to our enemies! 

The great debt of this gift was marked “paid in full” at the Cross, but I think God might be very happy if we try to show him a bit of what it means to us. Don’t you? 

Join me in this prayer.

Dear God, help me to remember your gift every day and to do my best to share the LOVE you so freely give. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen

This devotion was written and read by Bernice Howard.

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/.