Thank You for a productive day, Father. Yes, it was a day to finish up year-end reports for my churches, but they are done!
Acts 3:12-26 (<<click here to read the passage)
One thing we all tend to struggle with is to forgive. I have written several times about our need to forgive. A key verse in that line of thinking is found in Ephesians 4:32,
Be kind and helpful to one another, tender-hearted [compassionate, understanding], forgiving one another [readily and freely], just as God in Christ also forgave you. AMP (emphasis mine)
Hopefully, we succeed at forgiving more times than not. But how do we do with the adage, “forgive and forget”? We struggle with forgiveness, yet it is nigh impossible to forget. It probably wouldn’t take much for many of us to recall incidents committed against us when we were children. And it’s probably a good possibility that even all these years later, it still can make us a little hot under the collar! “As a follower of Jesus, I may have to forgive them, but how in the world am I supposed to forget what they did!”
One Old Testament passage that comes readily to mind is one of David’s psalms, which reads,
As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:12 AMP
Can you picture that in your mind? If you began traveling north, eventually you would begin traveling south. But, if you started traveling east, you would never begin traveling west. It just doesn’t work that way! That is how far our God has removed our sins – our transgressions – from us!
The Old Testament prophet Micah shared the same train of thought.
He shall again have compassion on us; He will subdue and tread underfoot our wickedness [destroying sin’s power]. Yes, you will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. Micah 7:19 AMP (emphasis mine)
When Peter, in Jesus’ name, healed the lame man by the Beautiful Gate, he took advantage of the gathering crowd by once again proclaiming the word the Spirit gave him. After plainly showing them how that had had a hand in killing the Messiah, he laid out their only hope of salvation. He said,
So repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, regret past sins] and return [to God—seek His purpose for your life], so that your sins may be wiped away [blotted out, completely erased], so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord [restoring you like a cool wind on a hot day] Acts 3:19 AMP (emphasis mine)
The Amplified Bible uses the phrase blotted out, which is also found in the King James Version. Merriam-Webster defines the verb blot out to mean to destroy all traces of.
Do you get the point? God forgets! When we repent, he forgives and removes our transgressions from us as far as the east is from the west. He cast them into the depths of the sea. He blots them out, never to the see, heard, or thought of ever again! Our almighty God who can do anything and everything chooses to forget! And He can help us do the same! Amen and amen!
Jan 17th, 2022, Mon, 7:01 pm
