Are You a Good Forgetter?

“But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets your free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.” (James 1:25 NLT)

Having just turned 76 a few days ago I can bear witness to the truth that your memory is among the first things you begin to lose as you age. While I can still remember many of the verses I’ve memorized, I don’t always remember where they are in the Bible. But one of the good things about having a poor memory is forgetting the things that people say or do that are offensive or hurtful.

Hopefully, by the time you’re my age you have formed godly habits that will be ingrained in your heart and mind so you can not only maintain your walk with the Lord, but continue to grow in love, grace, mercy, and closeness to Him. While it’s not uncommon for older people to become grumpy and out of sorts, unless there is a physical, mental, or emotional reason, I pray I can be gentle, kind, forbearing, and forgiving as long as the Lord gives me breath.

Obviously, there are legitimate reasons to forget and to not forget. We should quickly forget things that are said or done to hurt us because of our faith in Jesus. It’s dishonoring to the Lord to harbor resentment, anger, or bitterness against another person, especially another believer, but also, we should let things go that are said to us in anger or purposely said to get the proverbial “rise” out of us.

One thing the Lord has taught me over the years is that He has broad shoulders, and He can handle mean, disrespectful things that people say to and about Him, especially when said in ignorance. Each of us has thought, said, and done things in our lives for which we have deep regret, but having confessed them, now have certainty that the Lord has forgiven and forgotten them.

There are things we say without thinking that are wrong on many levels, but mostly they dishonor the Lord and violate His holy Word. Depending on which side of those words we’re on, realizing we’re the perpetrator should force us to our knees to cry out for forgiveness from the Lord and to seek forgiveness from those we’ve harmed. But, if we’re on the receiving end of those mean or inappropriate words, we need to run to the Lord to find the strength to forgive and to restore the damaged relationship as quickly as possible.

Of course, there are many variables in these kinds of situations, but regardless of whether we’re the offender or the offended, we need to allow the Holy Spirit to search us and cleanse us of our wicked ways and to seek reconciliation quickly. The longer we allow these angry and damaging feelings to fester, the more eternal damage we will incur.

One word of clarification. When we’ve been violated in some way – emotionally, physically, sexually, or in other inappropriate ways, forgetting may not be an option. We will likely carry the horror and trauma of such an event with us to our grave. The danger is that we will drink the poison of bitterness, revenge, and hatred, not to the other person(s) demise, but to our own.

The Apostle Paul quoted God’s words from Deuteronomy 32:35 in Romans 12:19 when he wrote: “Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, ‘I will take revenge; I will pay them back’ says the Lord.’” 

Because God is omnipresent and omniscient, nothing escapes His eternal notice; thus, no one ever gets away with anything. Sometimes the most righteous and God-honoring thing we can do is to become a good “forgetter.”

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊