Forgiving & Forgetting

The second part of forgiving is forgetting. Or, is it?

God said when He forgives our sins He will forget them. He will no longer hold that particular sin against us.

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

Jeremiah 31:34
“For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

When we forgive another sometimes we have a much harder time forgetting. And rightly so. We are not in the same position as God to forgive and forget. We have different reasons FOR our existence, therefore; different purposes FOR our forgiveness.

Each situation dictates what should be forgotten or not. If someone has asked you to forgive them for something they’ve said or done, forgive them, but you need to evaluate what forgetting would mean. If someone intentionally hurt your child and then asked for forgiveness, you must forgive them…but you don’t forget. You won’t leave your child with that person again. That doesn’t mean you haven’t forgiven them. You just don’t make allowance for that situation to happen again. Not forgetting is smart sometimes.

Remember, we are not on the same level as God so we are not forgiving for the same purpose either. There’s a reason why God hasn’t given us the ability to forget. We must remember some things. But that doesn’t mean we don’t ever try to forget. Some things need to be.

Christianity shouldn’t be as difficult as we make it. Forcing someone to forgive when God hasn’t forgiven the situation is very wrong in my opinion. I think it’s actually detrimental to our spirit. We begin to have conflicting issues about our own spirituality when we cannot forgive when we are told that we must. It’s another distracting battle that Satan sets before us. If he can keep our minds busy with internal conflict that takes our time and energy, then we don’t have the time and energy to do the things we ought to be doing. If we are questioning our own Christianity sometimes we become weaker. Again, we need to be smart with forgiveness and forgetting.

This has been a hot topic for me for many years. At one point, I was so conflicted to why I couldn’t forgive that it eventually started breaking my spirit. It was heavy on my heart and on my mind 24/7. It interfered with my quality of life and I could barely function as a wife and mom. Finally, I realized that I had to let go instead of forgive. There is a difference. And in doing so I immediately found great peace. The heavy burden was lifted. And I’m still at peace today.

You need to evaluate every situation. Prayerfully, ask for guidance. Forgive when you should. Forget when it’s okay.

My coffee is brewing. My blog is written for the day. I have faith that God is still in control. I have peace in my heart. I love deeply and am loved. Today is a good day.

♥️

Andi