Remember Forgiveness

GOD forgives and forgets. He casts our sins into the bottom of the ocean, and "remembers them no more". He wilfully removes the memory of our sin from His focus, which I find absolutely astounding. God, Who has all knowledge all at once at the forefront of His mind, does not hold our sin against us.

Jeremiah 31:34 - "And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

Hebrews 8:12 - "For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more."

He has forgiven us, and clothed us in the righteousness of Christ. That's all He sees. In His sight, we're His precious, righteous children, bought at a high price and therefore of everlasting worth and loveliness.

We sometimes think that God is just waiting for a chance to pounce and punish us for our sin, or maybe for the mere fact of being sinners. When things go "wrong" in our lives, we immediately think, maybe it's because we've done something wrong; that one sin we didn't quite confess, that one wrong turn that we didn't repent of...God points His heavy finger at us and says "I've got you now!"

But that's not how God works.

He disciplines with a purpose of reconciliation and growth; a deeper relationship.

Hebrews 12:6 "For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives."

Revelation 3:19 "Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent."

He does NOT punish us according to our sins. (Psalm 103:10)

Christ bore that punishment. (1 Corinthians 15:3) He died for our sins.

God sees us as His children, not as sinners. (John 1:12)

He has effectually forgotten that we ever sinned. (Micah 7:19)

We are on His mind in love and righteousness.

You don't have to fear that you have done something that God cannot forgive or forget.

You don't have to be afraid of God, as though He is some sort of unloving God Who deals out punishment in cruelty, striking you just because He can.

Remember that you are forgiven.

Remember that "there is nothing you can do to make God love you more; and there is nothing you can do to make God love you less".