Forgive AND forget???

"Forgive and forget", as the old saying goes, is impossible unless you have memory loss. Who really forgets when their friend shares a personal secret, their parent shows neglect or favoritism, their spouse says something hateful....? The list goes on and on. When trust is lost, feelings are hurt, expectations shattered, and hearts are broken it reaches down into deepest emotions and buries itself into our memory. How can we forget and move on then? 

I don't think forgetting is the key to forgiving. God knows every sin the each person throughout all eternity has and will commit. Scripture tells us that for those who put their faith in Him, He remembers their sin no more. Do you think He truly just forgets or throws the memory away? Of course not! Alternate wording might say, He is so rich in love, grace, and mercy that He chooses to look past our sin and hold none of it against us. That is what forgiveness is. 

The Bible calls us to forgive those who wrong us. Unforgiveness builds up pride and bitterness within us. The longer you harbor these feelings, the more they will rule in bondage over you and cloud your heart from acknowledging flaws in your own life. A victim mentality can never bring peace to the situation and will always bring a false sense of personal justification. Christ bore each of your sins upon Himself at the cross and holds none of it against you if you ask for His forgiveness. If He could do that for us, then we can and must forgive others. You should not accept or live in abuse, but there is no hurt too great or too deep that love and forgiveness cannot heal. You will most likely always have the memory tucked away, but with the power of Christ you can choose to look past it, to move forward, and to find happiness once again.

Remember that forgiving someone doesn't make them right, it makes you FREE!
-Stormie Omartian

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"The First Lady"

In order to really look at the role of a godly woman, I think it is only right to start from the beginning. Most anyone you ask would be able to tell you who the first woman was, but I want to dig further than that. -Why was it necessary for God to create a woman instead of another man? -What was the primary role created for Eve and each woman thereafter? -Have these roles changed since the time of Adam? Let's start by looking at the creation of woman in Genesis 2:18, 22-24 (NASB) For the first time in the creation story God says that something is not good. "Then the Lord God said, ' It is not good for the man to be alone ; I will make him a helper suitable for him.' The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. The man said, 'This is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.' For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, an...
Read more

Peace Out!

I finished reading Philippians this morning and felt drawn to chapter 4. Paul is addressing peace in the life of believers. As women, we seem to struggle with balancing the chaos of life and the peace of Christ. What insights can we take away from Paul's letter to the church in Philippi? My bible breaks the chapter into three sub-headings; Peace with Others, Peace with Self, and Peace with Circumstances. -Peace with Others Here we see Paul mediating a situation where two women have not been getting along. I'm not sure what the issue was, but it would be easy to fill in the blank. There could have been gossip, slander, lying, cheating, false accusations, jealousy, or a number of other issues. These are the types of things that cause disunity among women in today's world and were even in the early church. We know though that when sin looms over us, the peace of God can not also dwell there. Paul calls for the help of a godly individual, who will show no partiality, to step...
Read more

From Crazed to Praise

It has been far too long since my last post. A new baby, part-time work, starting a small design business, work around the house, and church related obligations has this girl feeling dazed and confused. Throw in all of the holiday craziness, and I'm officially diagnosing myself as a mental nutcase. At times I feel sad that my husband and I aren't getting to spend much time together, other times I feel overwhelmed at all the responsibilities that seem to be piling up on me, and still other times I feel agitated at people and situations around me during day-to-day activities. Highly emotional? Yep, I'd agree with you there. Do you ever struggle with feeling overwhelmed, stressed, crazy (the list goes on and on)? Well, I was given a helpful new perspective this last Sunday, and hopefully it will be helpful to my fellow crazies out there. I think we can all agree that God is sovereign, meaning that He is good and that nothing is out of His control. With that being said, we ...
Read more