Devotions with Pastor Fran Ruecker

The Other Half of Forgiveness:
 
All of us have, at one time or another, been hurt by words or actions of other people or events. There are times when we have to seek God's help to be forgiving because the hurts were so deep that we cannot find it in ourselves to forgive. Sometimes we need to seek forgiveness when we were the one that did the hurting, and there are times when we need to ask forgiveness, even when we weren't the one that caused the hurt.
 
There are times when we really feel like we have truly forgiven someone, only to find our mind replaying over and over the scenario of the event. We suddenly realize that the more we replay the tune, the more apt we are to become angry and hurt all over again. Sometimes the event becomes all distorted and embellished. We really did forgive them, didn't we? Or did we?
 
True forgiveness comes when we go to the person and apologize for whatever part we might have played in the event, but perhaps there is another part of forgiveness that we neglect. That part is forgetting. The part of forgetting can be the bigger challenge of forgiveness. I have heard people say, "Well, I can forgive him/her, but I can never forget what he/she did." Unfortunately, our mind is like a computer that stores the good events, as well as the bad events in our lives.
 
Bad memories have a tendency to crop up every now and then. Sometimes the enemy, Satan, attempts to destroy us with reminding us of the bad events. When we come to God and ask forgiveness for the things we do that hurt Him, He buries them in the sea of forgetfulness, never to be remembered anymore.
 
Micah tells us in chapter 7, verse 19, that God will have compassion on us and will tread our sins underfoot and hurl our iniquities into the depths of the sea. Psalms 103 tell us that God removes our sins as far as the east is from the west. The depth of the sea and as far as the east is from the west! Wow! Forgetting should be as important as forgiving. If we are keeping a record of wrong or nursing the grudge we have toward someone, have we really forgiven them? Philippians 3:13 tells us to forget what is behind us and strain towards what is ahead. To press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus.
 
We can't really press on toward the mark if we are holding on to the memories of our past hurts or events in our lives. Perhaps you have forgiven someone, but have you really forgotten? Is it really buried in the sea of forgetfulness, never to be remembered anymore?

Remember, there is another half of forgiveness-forgetting! What a great Christmas present for someone – Forgetting the hurt that comes from true forgiveness! You will find a renewed relationship if you can truly forgive and forget! 
Blessings,
Pastor Fran