Growing up in Michigan, the beginning of another year typically meant heavy snowfalls. I remember New Year's Eves when falling snow would nearly blot out the street lights and drift over the roads. We awoke on Near Year's Day to a world covered in a fresh layer of brilliant white snow.

A pure, freshly fallen snow can make us appreciate why the psalmist used snow as the measure when asking God to wash him white again. It's hard to imagine anything whiter than a new blanket of snow glistening in the morning sun.

Yet we have the promise that the saving grace of God can wash us whiter than snow. No matter what we might have done in the past that we regret, for which we are ashamed, or wish we could take back, God can wash it all away without a trace.

One of my speeches is about powerful phrases, and two of them are "I'm wrong" and "I'm sorry." My son Doug had heard that speech several times as a teenager. After missing his curfew one evening, he didn't make excuses. He simply said to me, "I'm wrong and I'm sorry." I had no response or argument to offer after that. I had no choice but to forgive and forget.

Our father in heaven forgives his children who confess to him that they are wrong and truly sorry. The Bible says he removes our transgressions as far as the east is from the west.

Some New Year's resolutions do lead to changed and better lives, but too often good intentions fail. While a new year can be a second chance, we unfortunately can never go back and erase past wrongs.

But the saving grace of Jesus Christ can. With faith and confession we have the promise that God will wash away any sin and make us whiter than snow.

The beginning of another year is a great time to make a fresh start and hope for better things to come. I'd suggest we also make a resolution to let go of past mistakes that might be holding us back from the person God wants us to be. Let's learn from our mistakes and move on. Let's celebrate a new year with rejoicing in a God who forgives us and forgets.

© Rich DeVos