Hebrews 10:16-18

When we do something stupid, it is so hard to erase it from our memory. When we do something that hurts another person, it can be even harder.........

Hebrews 10:16-18

"This is the covenant I will make with them
after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds"

Then he adds:

"Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more"

And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.


Did you see what he (the author of Hebrews) adds? Like oh yeah, once God forgives your sins, he forgets them too.

Forget my sins? Forget all the bad things I have done in the past to me and to others?

 HE forgets them.

How can He and we can't?

#1 Answer is HE is the all powerful God. There, right? End of discussion.

Truth is, that is the right answer for HIM, for God. We, as man, do not know all of God's ways and how he works. He is mysterious.

For us as humans, who must fight between good and evil on a daily basis, it's not that easy. It's not easy at all.

"To forgive and forget"........easier said than done. How can we move on and not feel guilty, especially if what we did hurt another? How can we not want to hang our heads in shame when we see that person, or a member of that family if that person isn't around anymore?

God wants us to live freely......for me, that means doing my best to follow His ways (which helps keep me free of sin) and to not have guilt. It's why God had to send Jesus- the old covenant ways of daily, weekly, monthly, yearly sacrifice over and over again just wasn't cutting it. It made God's people remember their sin over and over again- so they were not free from guilt. We will hit guilt up in a minute.

God "decided" to make a new covenant with His people- but this covenant was for ALL- not just Israelites.

He sent Jesus. Jesus loved all- even those who hated him. He even asked His father to forgive them when THEY KILLED HIM.

How do you do that?

And He forgave. For all those who truly repent, God forgives all sin. ALL.

It's very hard if not impossible for us to understand that. How do you forgive a child molester if he truly repents? How do you forgive a drunk driver that killed someone you love?

We as humans can not grasp that concept completely.

And when we have others around us that remind us of our sin, how do we do that? How do we forget like God does when we have constant reminders of what we did wrong? When you have "friends", associates, and even family members who throw things back in our faces...........how can you move on when they can't or "won't let you"?

So.......guilt? I was once told it is a tool of the devil. The deeper I go into my Bible studies and my relationship with Christ, I see that I too believe that it is a tool of the devil. And here is why:
Anything that pulls us away from Christ is a tool of the devil. Guilt makes us want to hang our head or hide our face from God, we are so ashamed of our behavior- and that takes us away from God's presence.

So we as Christ followers must fight the devil and remind ourselves over and over again, because we are human, that once we truly repent, in our hearts, and God forgives us, our guilt should be gone. The devil will continue to use others that let him, he will find other ways to bring that guilt back to us, but we must always turn towards the Word of God. That is where ALL the answers are: and it says several times in several places that WE ARE FORGIVEN.

Funny thing is I wrote this yesterday but decided didn't post it til today.......and before I did, I noticed my pastor had just written a blog on forgiveness that I will attach here:



http://powhatancommunitychurch.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-hardest-kind-of-forgiveness.html