What Is Forgiveness? Seriously.

What is Forgiveness? Seriously.

by Jack B Keene

We all have heard, it. In fact most of us have probably said it: "I will forgive but I will not forget'

Any person who says this has NOT forgiven. Let me explain why. Jesus said, "For if you forgive others their trespasses, than your heavenly Father will forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive you" Matthew 6.14,15

But lets look at another verse: "With the judgment you pronounce you will be judged,, and the measure you give will be the measure you get' Matthew 7.2

Jesus says the same way we forgive others is the way we will be forgiven by God, and the measure of non-judgment we give, is the measure of non-judgment we will receive from God.

We are called to forgive as God forgives. So, does God ever say, "I forgive but I will not forget?"

Let's look at some scriptures:

Isaiah 43.25: 'I even I am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more'

Jeremiah 31.34: 'For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more'

Hebrews 8.12 'For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more'

Psalm 25.7 'Remember not the sins of my youth'

I can go on and on. "Forgiveness' while retaining a record is NOT FORGIVENESS. And we are still in our sins if we "forgive" in this manner because God will not give us Biblical forgiveness if we do not give it.

To say "I will not forget" is to say "I will remember, or I will keep a record" "I WILL" means one is plainly stating that their WILL is to retain a record of another person's sin.

Remember means: "to CALL to mind" or 'to BRING' to mind' . Call and bring are both actions. This means that by declaring we will not forget we are declaring we will retain that person's sin by a conscience decision.

What does 'forget' mean? It has two meanings: One, is that one is unable to remember. The other means 'to overlook something' Are we 'overlooking' someone's sins if we declare we will not forget?

True, someone's past offenses may occasionally come to mind. But since we have chosen forgiveness we must cast these evil thoughts to the devil where they came from. If we declare "I WILL not forget' then we are retaining instead of throwing away offenses. This means God will retain our sins against us.

Of course we can only forgive sins against us personally. We cannot forgive the sins of another against a third party. If someone commits a sin against someone else then we cannot forgive because they sinned against them not us. That is between them and God.

But if anyone has sinned against us personally, and we say we won't forget we are certainly due the judgment of God.

So beloved, forgive and forget, Isn't that what you want God to do for you?

Peace,

Jack