Even as forgetting seems to get easier as I get older, it seems that we struggle to forget those things that we would be best served to forget. Like when someone says or does something to hurt us.
Oh, sure, we SAY we forgive them. But we hold them at arms’ length. And if they do ANYTHING close to that again we think, “See, just like before.”
Well, if we really forgave them, and forgot their words/deeds, how can be bring them up again later?
And, if we are believers, we’ve heard that God forgives and forgets our sins. But, after all, He’s God. He can do things that we can’t. We’re human. So it’s not as easy as it is for Him.
As true as that is, He does show us how. Let me explain.
There are four key Scriptures regarding God forgetting our sins. Let me just go ahead and list them here, and then explain what I mean.
“I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” Isaiah 43:25
“There sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” Hebrews 10:17
“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” Hebrews 8:12
“You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.” Micah 7:19
There’s a word used in three of these verses, and implied in the first, that lets us know HOW to forgive and forget. The word? Will.
“I will remember no more.” “I will remember their sins no more.” “[God] will … hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.” (Where we get the sea of forgetfulness from.) And the implied, “I … am He who … remembers your sins no more.” Could be stated “I will remember your sins no more.”
Whenever we say – or God says – that we WILL do something, we are declaring that we are making, or have made, a CHOICE. And it’s just that simple … and just that hard.
When I forgive someone, whether or not I forget what I’ve forgiven, is a matter of my CHOOSING to forget. It doesn’t mean that my mind won’t be able to recall it. It means that whenever my mind recalls it, I CHOOSE to FORGET!
The choice is yours …
