PRAISE & PRAYER PROMPT ••• Yesterday, we talked about “forgive” and the extraordinary way Jesus shows forgiveness through His love, grace, and mercy.
Today, we’re going to talk about forgetting.
As I’ve pondered forgiveness this year, I’ve thought about the concept of “forgive and forget,” which isn’t Biblical.
Forgetting isn’t part of Scripture and it’s not something we are capable of.
But there’s a difference between “forgetting” and what God does.
It’s not that God forgets our sins, but when we repent, God chooses not to remember them anymore.
Isn’t that amazing?!
It’s found in Isaiah 43:25, and the Lord said, “I—I sweep away your transgressions for my own sake and remember your sins no more.”
When we repent and turn from our sin, He forgives and chooses not to remember our sins anymore.
That’s when we can pull out the oft-quoted Psalms 103:12, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
And when you think about it, it makes sense.
God is all-knowing and all-powerful.
If He were to forget our sins, that would put us (and our tendency to rehash everything) in a position to know more than God.
Instead, He chooses not to dwell on our mistakes, and He does not allow them to consume His thoughts.
He chooses not to remember them.
The next time we mess up and spend hours mentally beating ourselves up, we have to keep this in mind.
We have to remember that our all-powerful, all-knowing God has decided not to remember our sins anymore.
So what gives us the right to keep punishing ourselves or someone who wronged us?
Who are we to tell God that His method of forgiveness and choosing not to remember isn’t good enough?
If we’ve sincerely repented, we can’t allow the past to paralyze us.
Today, as you pray, thank God for His willingness to not remember our sins once we have repented.
Ask the Holy Spirit to help you follow God’s example.
Ask Him to give you the grace you need—both for others as well as yourself.
Ask Him to equip you with His strength so that you can put those negative thoughts out of mind.
