FORGIVENESS
Forget a wrong, release the perpetrator
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By Bradley Shotts For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. – Hebrews 8:12 What Jesus forgives, God chooses not to remember. How refreshing is that? Wouldn’t it be wonderful that after we wronged someone and asked their forgiveness, that the wrong we committed would be permanently erased from their memory? How many times have we heard someone say, “I accept your apology, but I will never forget what you did.” This indicates that the wrong committed has forever stained the relationship and things will never be the same again. I will be the first to admit that I have done a lot of wrong in my life. I have hurt those that I love. I have had to crawl on
40 May / June 2021 | Christian Living
my knees at times to seek the forgiveness of those I have hurt. In those moments, I remember thinking, “If I could just go back in time, oh how I would change things!” I also remember thinking how I wished I could somehow wipe away from their memory that this ever happened. This is exactly what God chooses to do for us. I have witnessed someone telling another that they are forgiven, then in a moment of anger at a later date remind that person of how they had hurt them, bringing up the past again and again. This continually holds the wrong that was committed against them and is not forgiveness at all. Aren’t you glad that God does not treat us like this when we sin? Once we go before God in prayer and confess our sin, the Bible says He is faithful and just to forgive our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
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