A sample of the powerful daily devotional thoughts available in this book...A full Review of the book will be available on Friday, November 9, 2012. Free Book Giveaway on Friday
Jeremiah 31:31–34
Is
the evidence of having forgiven someone forgetting what he has done to you?
Jeremiah 31:34 is often quoted, where God says, “I will forgive their
wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
There
are at least two problems with this understanding of forgiveness. First, it is
not realistic. Trying to forget a sin someone has committed against you will only
encourage you to remember it. Completely erasing an offense from your memory is
not realistic. Second, it is not biblical. Our omniscient God does not forget anything!
The word “remember” in Jeremiah 31:34 is not a memory word, but a promise word,
a covenant word. God is promising that when we confess our sins, “I will not
treat you as your sins deserve. Instead, I will forgive you.” Forgiveness is a
past promise you keep in the future. It is very important to understand these
two dimensions of forgiveness. If you don’t, you will veer off in one of two
equally wrong directions: (1) You will be plagued with doubts about whether you
have forgiven someone because you think that forgiving equals forgetting.
Or
(2) you will give in to bitterness because you think that, since you have
forgiven someone in the past, you are allowed to hold onto the vestiges of hurt
in the present. Neither reflects the way God has forgiven us.
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