Hi y’all, happy Tuesday. I used to say that I can forgive but that I’d never forget but God showed me recently that forgiving but not forgetting isn’t true forgiveness. If we’ve truly forgiven then we should be able to forget the person’s trespasses as well. If we can’t forget, then it means we haven’t truly forgiven. Talk about an ouch moment for me.
In Isaiah 43:25 God says “I am the one who blots out your sins and remembers them no more.” This same scripture is confirmedĀ in Hebrews 8: 12 which says “I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more.” This is how God forgives us and how He wants us to forgive others.
Consider Jesus teaching us to pray in the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6: 5-13. Look at verse 12 which says, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who’ve sinned against us.” Now imagine us not forgetting when we say we’ve forgiven people and we pray this prayer, it means we’re asking God not to forget our sins as well. A true ouch or oh me, moment.
I understand that forgiveness can be a process depending on what the person did and somethings are easier to forgive immediately than others but living in a place of offence by not forgetting is something we can’t afford to do because it means we’re still choosing unforgiveness and walking in unforgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die but instead, it springs up a bitter root which slowly eats away at us, killing our dreams, opportunities and ultimately us.
Walking in unforgiveness is also like living in a prison without walls that we’ve created for ourselves because it makes us afraid to reach out to people for fear that they will do the same thing to us that the last person did or only seeking out those who will help us exact revenge on those who’ve offended us, but if we’d only realize that people are human, we wouldn’t put ungodly expectations on them or be disappointed when their actions fail us. We should rather allow God and His love to be our expectation in life.
Some even have sickness in their bodies because of unforgiveness but don’t realize it because they think they’ve truly forgiven but they’re still rehearsing everything that was done to them from twenty years ago. If you can still remember everything someone did to you, it means you haven’t truly forgiven and have to keep laying it at the altar in prayer until you’re able to let it go, if not, it will affect every area of your life and keep you from flourishing in your God given destiny and you may not even realize that unforgiveness is the root of why you’re sick or not progressing in life.
This concept of unforgiveness is seen in the story of David and Ahitophel as chronicled in 2nd Samuel. Ahitophel had the wisdom and voice of an angel. He was David’s trusted counsel and everything he said always yielded David victory. But Ahitophel was also Bathsheba’s grandfather and could never forgive David for what he did with Bathsheba. He ended up hanging himself as a result of his unforgiveness and bitterness towards David. Yes, David committed an atrocity by sleeping with Bathsheba and ultimately killing her husband to hide what he’d done, but Ahitophel’s inability to forgive ultimately cost him his life. Unfair, I know but a lesson for us to know just how deadly unforgiveness can be. I know people may have wronged us in the worst ways imaginable but choosing to forgive regardless of how egregious what they did was means choosing to live and to live freely.
I pray what I’ve written here today gives someone a Selah moment and helps set them free from unforgiveness so they’re free to flourish in all God has for them. I know this revelation helped set me free.
Have a great day y’all!