I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins
Isaiah 43; 25 (ESV)
Scripture: John 3: 1-19
One of the easiest ways for Satan to wreck our relationship with God and our witness for Him is to get us to think that God does not forget our sins. Even after we have confessed them, sometimes it is hard for us to forgive ourselves, so we think God won’t. This devotion looks at what the Bible tells us about God forgiving and forgetting our sins.
Cliff Notes
- God will forgive our sins when we confess them to Him.
- God does not remember them because of Jesus’ blood and His removing them.
- We keep remembering them because Satan uses this to wreck our relationship with God and our witness for Him.
- We may still suffer the consequences of our sins even though they have been forgiven.
A couple of years ago, I apologized to my In-Law Sister. We had taken a speech class together in school.
Being the anal person that I am, I always had my speeches done on the due date. I always went first.
Always – except for one day. I got tired of the expectation that I would go first. I got tired of being the only one to volunteer.
That day, when the teacher called for volunteers, I didn’t. So, he started calling people. (Now, it is important to note that, if he called on you and you didn’t have your speech done, you got an F for the day.)
The teacher called on my In-Law Sister, and she didn’t have her speech done. I started biting on myself because I let someone get an F even though I had my speech done.
How This Affected Me
Decades later (yes, decades), I was telling this story to one of my co-workers. We were on a retreat.
We were talking about how, even though I had this job that really wasn’t humanly possible to perform, there was this huge expectation that I would perform it perfectly. She asked about prior expectations.
I told her the speech story and how I had bit on myself for years because I did not live up to expectations and made someone suffer because of it. That is when I knew I had to apologize to my In-Law Sister.
I see my In-Law Sister once a year at Thanksgiving. That year, for some reason, she and I were walking alone outside. I got to apologize.
She did not remember it happening. Didn’t know what in the world I was talking about.
Oh, yes, she said. She probably didn’t have the speech done and did deserve the F. No, she said, I didn’t deserve to bite myself all these years for something that wasn’t of consequence.
Bites Because of Sin
How many times do we bite on ourselves because of a sin we have committed? Oh, yes. We did the crime, so we think we need to do the time.
Luckily, we have a loving Heavenly Father Who will forgive us when we ask. “But I wipe away your sins because of who I am. And so, I will forget the wrongs you have done” (Isa. 43: 25 CEV). But that doesn’t mean He just automatically forgives us.
We have to confess it. “But if we confess our sins to God, he can always be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away” (I Jn. 1: 9 CEV).
We have to acknowledge that we did wrong. We have to want to do better next time. That entails a change of heart.
But Can We Forgive Ourselves?
Sometimes, we have confessed it. But we think, isn’t God really going to remember it? We sure do! We keep remembering it because we can’t forgive ourselves.
No, God isn’t going to remember. “He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west” (Ps. 103: 12 NLT). Out of sight; out of mind.
How can God do that when He is omniscient? Romans 8: 1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (ESV). Jesus’ blood has covered our sins.
God no longer condemns us — but we sure continue to condemn ourselves.
What Does This Mean?
Satan wants us to keep biting on ourselves. He wants us to not forgive ourselves or forget it.
If we keep beating ourselves up for doing this, we will think we are unworthy of God. Unusable. Unlovable.
It wrecks and undermines our relationship with God. It wrecks our witness for Him.
That is just what Satan wants.
We usually fall right into Satan’s hands. How can God use me to write a blog because I have done this, this, and this? How can I witness to someone else when I haven’t followed His commandments — and still have trouble with some? How can I love someone else as a fellow believer when I am so unlovable?
How Do We Apply This?
The next time Satan sits on our shoulders and whispers in our ears that God hasn’t forgiven us or forgotten the sin, we need to tell him, “I am going to believe God, not you. God said, because I have confessed it, He will forgive it and remove it. So, He did. Go away.”
Satan doesn’t like it when we quote scripture to him. That means we’ve read it, and it has meant enough to us for it to stick.
Consequences v. Remembering
We have to be very careful that we do not mistake suffering the consequences for the sins as remembering the sin. Just because God forgets our sins doesn’t mean He doesn’t punish us.
God said, “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent” (Rev. 3: 19 NIV). The discipline is to help us grow.
Moral of the story, don’t bite on yourself needlessly. If you have confessed the sin, God has forgiven you. Forgive yourself. God can and will continue to use you for His kingdom work.
Loving Father. You show us both grace and mercy. You have given us more than we deserve. You have also not punished us to the extent we deserve. On top of that, you forget when we do wrong. All of this You have done because You love us. All we can say is thank You, Father. Help us to forgive ourselves. Help us to do the work You have called us to do. Amen
What do you think? What is a sin you would rather forget? How can you forgive yourself and let it go? Or, how could God use it to further His kingdom?
Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
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