I don’t know about you, but my biggest struggle on the road to complete forgiveness is not the forgiving, it is the forgetting.
That darn memory of mine is quick as a whip to remember an infraction! It stirs up a lot of unpleasant feelings for both me and Shane sometimes, the “infractor”.
It is unfortunate that it is so much easier to forgive than to forget.
In my first post, I said this:
Forgiveness does not mean you forget. I believe that once you have truly forgiven a person, you still remember the wrong, but it doesn’t hurt as badly as it once did. And once that person begins to try and earn your trust again, that is when the forgetting begins.
So, with our humanly finite minds, how do we begin to forget?
1. When you feel the memory come on you, take a deep breath. Remember, the Enemy is trying to stir things up!
2. Ask yourself, “Why is this memory coming back to me now?” Find the source that jogged the memory.
3. Consider your options: Is it worth getting angry all over again? Or can this be put aside and move on?
4. Make your decision. If you have chosen to put the memory aside, you are moving in the right direction. The forgetting has begun.
Is this a foolproof plan to keep you from ever again getting angry over past infractions? No. Is it a start? Yes.
When I am angry over an error in someone else’s way, I try to remember that I forgive because I have been forgiven. {Colossians 3:13}
How is it that I can hold a grudge of remembering, when the Father “forgives their wickedness and will remember their sins no more”? {Hebrews 8:12}
It must be that pesky human mind we have…
In all we do, we need to remember one final thing, the lyrics from one of my favorite songs:
He is jealous for me
Love’s like a hurricane,
I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of
His wind and mercy
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory
and I realize just how beautiful You are and how great your affections are for me.
Oh, how He loves us so
Oh, how He loves us
How He loves us all.
We are His portion and
He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption
by the grace in His eyes
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking
So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss and my heart turns
violently inside of my chest
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way
He loves us,
Oh, how He loves us
Oh, how He loves us
Oh, how He loves
We are to live our lives knowing we are loved. And, our actions should speak of how we are loved. Because we are loved, we love. Because we love, we forgive. Because we forgive, we forget. We wipe the slate clean, because our slate is clean.
Design by: Amy Loves It! *Photo by: Markus Merz*
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