To Forgive Is To Forget

December 17, 2015 Year C

Jeremiah 31:31-34

Forgiveness has eternal rewards. When someone forgives another person, the forgiver releases the forgiven of all responsibility. At the same time, the obligation which the forgiven needed to pay back a debt is eliminated. Forgiveness truly means to forget.

God had made a first covenant with His people. In that agreement, He chose to lead them out of slavery (Jeremiah 31:32). The problem was that although He physically delivered them out of physical slavery, they still did not follow Him (Jeremiah 31:32). Instead, they disobeyed Him. The power of the Exodus was in the obedience of the people. But the people failed.

The Exodus event was a powerful show of God’s power. However, the people forgot how powerful God was. They needed a constant reminder to know God (Jeremiah 31:34).

So God brings His Son into the world. He allows His Son to make the sacrifice will deliver God’s people from the power of sin. This is the new agreement (Jeremiah 31:31, Jeremiah 31:33). The power would be broken by forgiveness.

Knowing God is tied to forgiveness of sin. God allows Jesus to die on the cross. The sin is paid and the sin debt is forgiven. The power in this event is that since God’s Son paid the debt, God the Father can forget. He forgives us by forgetting what we owe Him. He saw that His Son paid the debt, and so God forgets the sin debt which we originally owe Him.

Our debt is forgiven, and our obligation is forgotten.

God has forgiven our debt and He has forgotten our sin.

Why is this important? Because the act of forgiveness ends in forgetting. People say that they may forgive but never forget. God says: “I forgive and I forget.”

To forgive is to forget.

When we enter this Christmas season, we need to be reminded that we may meet people who need forgiveness. They all need our forget-ness.

Forgetting the wrongdoing shows the other person that I have truly forgiven them. Salvation only works if the sins which are forgiven are also forgotten.