Forgive and Forget? Are you serious??? I remember rolling my eyes over the age-old
“forgive and forget” spiel. I mean, come
on, who can forget – really forget – a wrong done to
them? If forgetting the wrong is the
conditioned result of having successfully forgiven…well, then forgiveness is
impossible!
Paraphrasing from memory… Sue Curran,
author of The Forgiving Church, has explained,
‘Forgetting an incident of injustice is not the result of true forgiveness. But you know you have completed the process
of forgiveness when you forget the pain and/or anger previously
associated with the offense.’
When you break a bone or burn your flesh,
your mind may remember the incident, but your mind/body cannot later retrieve
or conjure the physical pain associated with the trauma…the body forgets the pain it suffered. Likewise, the process of submitting your hurt
and anger to God through prayer regularly, coupled with the obedient act of
blessing your offender scripturally, can bring your spirit to that place of
blessed forgetfulness - forgetting the pain associated with the trauma of the
offense.
The same God who has cast your sin
as far as the east is from the west and into the sea of forgetfulness, can
empower you to forget your anguish and fury.
The same Savior who was broken for your sins so you can receive forgiveness,
can heal your broken heart and restore it to a blissful forgetfulness of
offense.
Forgive
and Forget? Yeah, I am serious!
Psalm
103:12 - Micah 7:19 - Isaiah 43:25
PsalmAs
far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from
us.
MicahHe
will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities.
You will cast all our sins into the
depth of the sea.
IsaiahI,
even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not
remember your sins.
Suggested
Prayer
Well,
Father, I don’t think I ever imagined I would praise You for being “forgetful” –
but, OH, how I do! What a comfort it is
to know You do not sit around dwelling on my former failures and nursing anger
against me! Who could survive Your wrath??? But You have declared Your glory and
demonstrated it to me – that You are “gracious, longsuffering, abounding in
goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands and forgiving iniquity,
transgressions and sin…” (Exodus 34:6-7a) You have cast my sin as far as the east is
from the west into the depths of the sea, and have promised You will not
remember my sins! I, on the other hand, have
not gloried in the blessing of forgiving others; rather, Lord, I have sought
revenge: withholding good, sneaking in
back-handed comments, sabotaging offenders’ reputations, lashing out with angry
words. I have nursed my anger, and it
has grown so large, I feel it’s grown out of my control! Father, I want to be like You…gracious,
longsuffering, forgiving…but forgiveness is such a struggle. Though, at times, forgiveness seems
insurmountable - let not my mind declare, “Defeat!” Remind me how much Jesus Christ had to suffer
to procure my forgiveness! If Christ
Himself had to die that I may receive forgiveness, then, Father, give me the courage
and spiritual determination to die to myself that I may offer forgiveness to
those who have wounded and offended me.
Transform me! Heal me, that I may
forget the pain and anger associated with the injustices I’ve suffered. Let me Forgive and be Forgetful like You,
dear Lord!
And
it is in the name Jesus, my Forgetful Forgiver, I pray! Amen
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