Hebrews 8:12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”
God’s love chooses to forget our willful, stubborn and repeated sins. To ‘sin’ is to ‘miss the mark’. ‘Transgression’ is presumptuous sin or intentional disobedience. ‘Iniquity’ is premeditated repeated trespassing without remorse. A real life example would be a compulsion to bribe once to get a promotion. Transgression is to bribe habitually and iniquity is when bribery becomes second nature and reputation. God is “Omniscient”, which is a Christian term for “all-knowing”. He is outside time and space. He does not suffer from amnesia hence He cannot forget our accidental sins or intentional iniquities. However, in His stupendous love for humanity, He chooses to forget our wickedness. When He says “I will not remember your sins”, He means that the next time we miss the mark, He will not shame us with the mistakes of the past.
“When God forgives us, He blots out the record of our sins, our slates are clean. God does not have a poor memory but He does have the ability to choose to forget. And when He forgives, He forgets” – Derek Prince.
Humans struggle to understand the love of God that forgives and forgets. We have no legal rights to recollect our own sins that Jesus has drowned in the “sea of forgiveness”. Even matured believers struggle to refrain from revisiting or reverberating the painful past. Most families lose their peace by pouting and poking each other with the misdoing of the past. If we carry regret against our spouse for his/her misbehavior last month, the betrayal of a friend for years or the pounding words of the mother-in-law for decades, we are oblivious to God’s amazing love. Those who enjoy the unassuming love of God will also emanate unconditional love and forgiveness to others.
God’s love chooses to forget, searches to find and waits to restore:
1. Choose to Forget: Many studies have confirmed that the negative emotions leave an indelible print in our memory than positive emotions. Dr. Laura Carstensen, a psychology professor at Stanford University says that we will remember the lion in the bush more vividly than the pretty flowerbed on the roadside. Forgiveness is a command but forgetting cruel treatment or nasty words is a choice. God’s love chooses to forget.
2. Search to Find: Jesus cares about every wayward soul that wanders away from the fold. “If a man has 100 sheep, but 1 of the sheep gets lost, he will leave the other 99 sheep on the hill. He will go to look for the lost sheep (Matthew 18:12). God’s love cares for the lost, licentious and lethargic. It was God’s love that found you and me.
- Waits to Restore: God’s love reinstates a repentant soul. The Father of the prodigal accepted him without reprimand or rebuke. Jesus ordained Peter on the beach after his brutal betrayals without any reproof or lecture to remain faithful. God’s love waits to restore repentant souls as sons and daughters.
God’s love forgives our willful disobedience, throws it behind His back, never to revisit.
Micah 7:19 He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
Prayer: Father of Love, thank you for choosing to forget my arrogance, animosity and anger tantrums. Help me not to regurgitate the mistakes of others. Amen.
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