“I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.  Isaiah 43:25

The pressure to be like Jesus can be overwhelming if I’m part of a legalistic environment.  Satan also whispers the lie that God only loves me when I’m making progress.  Never will I struggle more than when I try to be like God and (as we call it) ‘forgive and forget.’  Of the many myths surrounding forgiveness, this is one of the most destructive. 

If I’ve really forgiven someone, does that mean that I will stop thinking about what they’ve done?  And if that event goes through my mind every so often, am I sinning?  ‘Forgiving and forgetting’ is often linked to the Isaiah scripture that headed this chapter. What’s behind God’s words?  

When I repent and ask for God’s forgiveness, He takes the sins that separated me from Him and puts them behind His back, out of sight.  He never brings them out again, holds them up to my face and says, “Remember what you did!?”  They are out of sight. ‘Remembering them no more’ means they are no longer an issue between us. 

Remembering offenses to feed my bitterness is different than remembering  offenses to pursue wisdom.  God is always there to help me review my life, the good and the bad, piece by piece. He teaches me about my offenders and about myself, revealing why I reacted the way I did.  The wisdom gained is what scripture refers to as the ‘treasures of the darkness.’

If I consider my worst hurt and what was done against me, and if I track the instruction given by the Holy Spirit about that event, I discover that my soul and spirit are enriched to the point of overflowing.  If you have forgiven others after something horrendous, you are also rich in wisdom and could give lengthy instruction to others.  That’s because, with the mind of Christ, our scars make us wise.