We’ve all read the passages about God forgiving and forgetting our sins…
I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” Isaiah 43:25 (ESV)
… but how many of us actually believe it?
If you thought about it for a minute you’d probably think back to Sunday school, and everything you learned when you were a kid, and you’d say you do believe it. But I’m willing to take a risk and challenge you, because I think most of us don’t really believe it, and here’s why –
When was the last time you felt shame?
When was the last time you carried guilt?
These things are not from the Lord and they definitely do not manifest in someone’s life, who truly believes they’ve been forgiven. The only reason we carry these things in our lives is because we do not truly believe God’s word. We might believe we’ve been forgiven but there’s this thing in us that can’t believe God would really forget about our sins, because we can’t.
Do you want to know why you can’t forget about your sins? It’s because Satan doesn’t want you to, so he keeps reminding you, over and over and over again. He knows that when you fully give your sin – and all the feelings associated with it – over to the Lord, that you will be made whole, and he doesn’t want that.
The entire scheme of the enemy is to keep us from knowing who we truly are in the Lord, because when you know who you are, he loses everything. He loses control of you, he loses a voice in your life, and you turn into a weapon formed against him. A weapon who tells others the truth, who helps set others free.
But God has a plan, which is why He sent Jesus.
By God’s will we have been purified and made holy once and for all through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus, the Messiah! When this Priest had offered the one supreme sacrifice for sin for all time He sat down on a throne at the right hand of God, waiting until all His whispering enemies are subdued and turn into His footstool. And by His one perfect sacrifice He made us perfectly holy and complete for all time!” Hebrews 10:10, 12-14 (tPt)
Let me be clear, I’m not saying I have this all figured out and that I never struggle with the idea that God truly doesn’t remember my sins, but I am beginning to understand it more, as the Lord reveals things to me. As one example, I was talking to my friend when I was staying at her house over Easter break, and I was sharing with her how Malea has been struggling with lying. I was explaining how Matt and I had handled the most recent situation but when it came time for me to tell her what Malea had actually lied to us about, I couldn’t remember! I had completely forgotten because she had asked my forgiveness and I’d forgiven her. In that moment, on the couch with my friend, I heard the Lord say, “Exactly. That’s exactly the way I feel.”
If I, a mortal, sinful being, can forgive and forget my daughter’s sins, then how much more forgiving and forgetful is the God of the universe, when I’ve been “made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ”?!?
So if I’ve been made holy because of Christ, then why would I want to continue to carry around my shame and guilt? The thought that you’ve done something so bad, or so shameful that God wouldn’t forget your sins, is a lie. It’s reducing God to what you would do if you were Him – but you’re not – and I don’t think you want to serve a God that small.
Where is another God like you, who pardons the guilt of the remnant, overlooking the sins of his special people? You will not stay angry with your people forever, because you delight in showing unfailing love. Once again you will have compassion on us. You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean!” Micah 7:18-19 (NLT)
He is a God who delights in showing unfailing love and compassion! His heart breaks when He sees you carrying the things He has already forgotten about. So I want to ask you again, do you truly believe God forgives and forgets your sins? If you do, have you been living your life in a way that reflects that belief, or have you continued to carry the burden of your sin, believing the lies of the enemy?
It’s time to truly give it all to the Lord. If He has forgotten your sins, then it’s time for you to do the same. Choose life, choose truth, choose to enter into His presence knowing you’ve been washed in the blood of the Lamb.
Because of the blood of Jesus, He welcomes us to come right into the most holy sanctuary in the heavenly realm – boldly and with no hesitation. And since we now have a magnificent King-Priest to welcome us into God’s house, we come closer to God and approach Him with an open heart, fully convinced by faith that nothing will keep us at a distanace from Him. For our hearts have been sprinkled with blood to remove impurity and we have been freed from an accusing conscience and now we are clean, unstained and presentable to God, inside and out! So now we must cling tightly to the hope that lives within us, knowing that God always keeps His promises!” Hebrews 10:19, 21-23 (tPt)
Thanks for this message, Anna.