by Victoria Heinecke

A new year, a fresh start.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
1 Corinthians 5:17 New International Version (NIV)

As a personal trainer, January 1 is my Black Friday. Every year, gyms are packed with people resolving to get fit and lose weight. After a month or so, many of those who start the year with good intentions give up and stop exercising. Attendance returns to more normal numbers, until the cycle repeats the next year.

Developing habits to maintain a healthy body requires discipline, and results happen when a person resolves to stick to their new routines over the long haul. When I get to know a new client, sometimes they discover something holding them back: an unwillingness to forgive themselves for letting their bodies and their health decline. When they start loving and caring for the one body God gave them, they can begin making progress towards better health.

“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.“
1 Corinthians 5:18-19 NIV

The word “reconcile” is used by God four times in two verses. Nested inside those repetitions is assurance. God is not holding our past actions against us, so why are we still gripping them with an iron fist? Peace within us, and peace towards others, is impossible unless we accept the free gift of forgiveness from God through the atonement of Jesus Christ.

Hi, God, it’s me again. It’s January 1 and I’m ready to make a new start with you. Thank you for sending Jesus to take away my sins. You have forgiven me, but sometimes I struggle with forgiving myself. Help me relax my grip, one finger at a time, so I can feel the genuine peace that only you can give, and to share that peace with others..

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado