Last week I wrote about how God does not “forget” our sins but instead, the Bible says He will not remember them. And in the Hebrew that means not only the mental activity but more importantly any actions that occur bc of the memory. For example – God “remembered” Noah and therefore, began drying up the flood waters. When God “remembers” God acts.

When the Bible says that God will not remember our sins that actually means God will not take any actions towards us based on our sins. Amazingly, in God’s thoughts about us and actions towards us it is as if the sin never occurred.

Now let’s change the focus 😉 In Mt 6 Jesus says, “if you forgive men when they sin against you your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But, if you do not forgive men their sins your Father will not forgive your sins.”

How does God forgive our sins? Fully, completely, wholly. In fact, when He thinks about you He willingly chooses to not allow the memory of your sin to taint His picture. In His actions towards you, His thoughts about you the memory of the sin is gone. He chooses to not remember your sins.

So, how are we to forgive each other???

The exact same way.

You may have been hurt beyond what you ever thought possible Your heart may have been broken in two and you are still trying to put the pieces back together. It may have been yesterday, it may have been years ago. It may have been a huge thing, it may have been an incredibly small thing but you can’t let it go.

In your own flesh you can’t. But by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit you can and you must. Jesus’ statement wasn’t phrased “if you feel like it” or “if you want to” or even “if you think you can or should…” But instead if you want to be forgiven you must also learn to forgive, fully, wholly, completely. Trust can still take time to build, but you will never relearn trust if you do not first forgive.

As we continue through the new year may God teach us how greatly we have been forgiven. And may we turn around and forgive others the exact same way.