Well, hello my online peeps!  I hope all ya’ll are having a wonderful day.  I have been busy doing lots of summer stuff here lately.  We had our Super Saturday VBS at our church last Saturday.  We have had youth group events, going to the movies, summer devotionals, shaving cream wars, etc.,.

 

Miss Neenee went bowling with the Girl Scouts & will be going to a movie with them, next week as well.  My beautiful niece has been at my house, visiting from a faraway land.  My sweet husband has been grilling lots of wonderful stuff.  We have a birthday to celebrate this weekend.  My grandbabies have been coming by for visits.  Of course I have been as accommodating as possible.  My daughter in law was telling Mr. Sweetie Pants just last night to quit writing on the kitchen floor with a magic marker.  Well, Lord have mercy, that’s what Mr. Clean is for.  Mr. Sweetie Pants kinda gets away with a lot at my house.  And when I say a lot, I mean everything.  Except back talk.  We don’t do that at my house.  Everything else we can pretty much handle.  I have been doing my best to keep up with my 100 days of scripture.  With that, my Sunday School lesson & Wednesday night class I have been studying my Bible.

I try to be attentive to what people are saying.  Words mean a lot to me.  I really take them to heart.  I guess that’s why I get so irritated when people use words in a hurtful, disrespectful, or uncaring way.  Words can’t be unsaid.  And forgetting what someone has said to me or my family is something I work on daily.  That’s why when my uncle said this the other day, I took note.

 He said, “The Bible teaches forgiveness.  It does not teach to forgive & forget.  Man said that.  Not God, because God knows we are human.”

I had never considered that.  So, I did what I normally do, when someone makes an expounding statement, like that, about the Bible.  I go look it up.  Here is what I found out.

William Shakespeare in King Lear made the statement, “Pray you now, forget & forgive.”

 

In the Bible, the apostle Paul had a big problem with forgiving & forgetting.  It all had to do with himself, too.  Before Paul became a devout Christian, he persecuted Christians.  He never got over that & what he had done to the church.  You can tell by how he addresses it all.

I Timothy 1: 12-13 ¹² And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, ¹³ although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. (NKJV)

His former life humbled him.  He understood that he was a chosen vessel.  However, he did not take it lightly.  He talked about his past openly.

Acts 22:2²⁰ And when the blood of Your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by consenting to his death,^[b] and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’ (NKJV)

He did not let his past cripple him of his service to the Lord.  He did not say, “I’ve done too many bad things, the Lord will never forgive me.”  Or “I’m not good enough to serve the Lord.”  He made mistakes, but then got him some gumption & did what he was supposed to do.  He did not let his past sins hold him back from doing what was right.

The Lord knows we are human.  As humans, we make mistakes & are not perfect.  For our sakes, we should be willing to put things behind us & move on.  Paul finally got to that point,

Philippians 3:13-14 ¹³ Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, ¹⁴ I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.(NKJV)

God is the only One capable of selective erasing events from His memory.  When we receive Christ’s forgiveness, He acts as sin hasn’t happened.  We aren’t made up that way.  We are commanded to forgive.

Matthew 6:14 For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.(NKJV)

Forgetfulness is a much needed discipline of our emotions.  Which is hard, because we are stubborn creatures.  But let’s be stubborn for the things that matter.  Like our faith & family.  It’s a good thing to put things in their place & focus on what is to come, rather than where we have been.  You have got to have some peace somewhere.  Not dwelling on how someone has wronged you is a good way to put things to the side.  Then, peace will come.

I am so glad you took time to visit with me today.  Our weather has been oddly FANTASTIC.  July in Mississippi is normally hot, humid, & unbearable.  A big thank you goes out to whoever ordered the awesome weather we had on the 4^th of July.  That was stinkin’ wonderful.  We were at some of our friends Tuesday night.  Just sitting in their backyard enjoying the cool weather.  I had on a long sleeved shirt.  It was crazy.  I’ve so enjoyed you today.  But for now, I have to be going, because I should be washing clothes.

photo credits: Pinterest, someecards