Forgive and Forget

“For I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more.” Hebrews 8:12

Actress Marilu Henner never forgets anything. Give her the date, and she’ll give you the details—where she was, who she saw, what she did. Such amazing ability would be both handy and hard. Remembering our successes would be fine, but recalling every failure would be no fun. As time goes by, we hope our sins and shortcomings will slip from the memories of those around us, but often we find ourselves wondering if they still remember the things we wish they would forget.

The only one who we can be sure will not remember is the very One who has the right to never forget. And yet our God of grace promises us, “I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” God will never bring your bad back up. He will not throw your transgressions in your face or hold them over your head because He’s already taken them on Himself. “He sacrificed for our sins once for all when he offered himself”(Heb. 7:27).

“Forgive and Forget” is God’s mantra alone, for only He can choose what He will and won’t remember. Thankfully, in forgiveness, He wipes our sins from His memory and removes the fear from our souls. “If you kept a record of sins, no one could last long. But you forgive us, and so we will worship you”(Ps. 130:3-4 CEV).

Such grace deserves both our adoring love and an abundant life because forgiveness frees us up to live without our past waywardness weighing us down. When we recall our failures, and when the enemy uses them against us, we need to remember ourselves and remind Satan that our sins have been forgiven and forgotten.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

We may not always remember that God forgets, but He will never forget to not remember.