Hebrews 8:12 (NIV84)
12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
It is fascinating what our minds can remember! Without a second thought, you could probably punch in the digits of your childhood phone number or recall exactly how much you paid for your first home. We play trivia games where we impress each other by reciting the lyrics to old pop songs or obscure advertising slogans. And there are certain moments so fixed in our minds that we can recall decades-old details as if they were happening right now.
It is just as fascinating (and frustrating) what our minds can’t remember! Despite sticky notes and cell phone alerts, we are bound to forget one item on the grocery list, an important event on the calendar, or where we left our keys. We might long to relive a family vacation or hear the voice of a loved one now gone, but we can’t quite conjure up the memory.
On the other hand, there are some things we’d love to forget, but just can’t. The hurtful comment that you overheard still stings. The biting words that you blurted at your spouse are used as ammunition the next time around. The sins of your youth enter uninvited into your mind, where they feel as real as the sins of yesterday. It’s our sin - our own wickedness - that is ever present and unforgettable.
Yet there is one who is all-knowing, that remembers our sins no more. Your God, who knows you better than you know yourself, has forgotten all your sins. It’s not that he chooses to ignore them, or has them on a decades-old list to deal with later. It’s not that he is saving our sins to dredge out as ammunition for next time around. Those sins are forgiven. Gone. Removed as far as the east is from the west. Jesus took every ounce of our wickedness on himself. Christ hung with those sins upon the cross, accomplishing what we could not, remembering not what we could never escape.
Because of what Christ has accomplished, we now stand forgiven. This life of sin-forgotten forgiveness is our eternal reality. We are freed from the sins of our youth and the sins of yesterday.
Yes, it is fascinating what our minds can remember and what they can’t. But be fascinated by and rejoice in God who has powerfully, mercifully, and eternally forgiven all of our sins and remembers them no more. Rejoice in what Christ has accomplished.
PRAYER: Dear Lord, you know I am unworthy of all the goodness you show me. I am unworthy of your love and forgiveness. By grace, you sent Jesus to forgive all my sins, and you now remember him when you look at me. Help me never forget this forgiveness. Amen.