Similarly, we should remember how gracious others were when we were spiritually ignorant, close-minded or much too opinionated for how little we knew. Remember how we were once poor and desperate. Now we should go and do likewise to the oppressed, neglected and overlooked in our community.
3. Remember your sin in order to delight in God’s forgiveness.
Stunningly, God says to Israel that he is giving them the land to possess in spite of their stubbornness. God tells Israel to “remember and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness” (Deuteronomy 9:7).
This is baffling. Doesn’t God forget our sins, and shouldn’t we? Instead, we’re instructed to remember how sinful we were. God declares, “Don’t forget how wicked and evil you’ve been. Don’t forget your sin and rebellion against me.” Why? Because your current experience of God’s grace and kindness of God is wholly unmerited. It’s all grace. Sin reminds us of how lavish—how amazing—God’s forgiveness is. If in the new creation we have memories of our sinful past, it will only awaken in us a greater amazement and wonder that we have been forgiven and reconciled by the blood of the Lamb.
God has redeemed us, in spite of who we are, and we rest in his mercy forever. May the beauty and majesty of the gospel cascade over the shambles of our broken past, and may Jesus be magnified all the more. 
