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Learn to Forget

“I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” Isaiah 43:25

How many times have you heard the saying, “I will forgive, but I will not forget?” This statement sounds innocent, but it is a statement of rebellion. It has nothing to do with being discerning or having spiritual perception; it is keeping a logbook in one’s mind of previous offenses.

As believers, we acknowledge that we are created in the likeness of God. We will even concede that we are on a journey to have the fullness of Christ character established in our nature. Part of the nature of God is forgetting our sins. However, he takes it further he blots them out meaning that they are removed from memory. They are exterminated!

If we desire to follow in the footsteps of Christ, we will need to learn how to blot out the memory of past offenses. We will need to learn how to forgive and forget prior trespasses. When we hand them over to the Lord, he will remember and deal with them on our behalf thus freeing us from the burden of carrying such weights around within us.

God obliterates our sins and he has asks to do the same for others (Ephesians 4:32, Colossians 3:13). Therefore, we are to wipe the slate clean for those who have wronged us. If we refuse to do so, the enemy will cause us to live a life of “instant replay.” He will stir up the memories so that we are living and reacting according to past offenses. He will have us living in the past when God has called us to a glorious future.

“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” Hebrews 8:12

This week’s challenge is to choose to forgive and to forget. Identify all the people against whom you have withheld forgiveness. Identify those whom you have forgiven but have not forgotten the offense. Include anyone whom when you hear their name, think about them or encounter them cause your emotions to haywire in a negative way. Cast the memory into the sea of forgetfulness by faith in Jesus.

| OSC Week 21 |

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