Choosing to Forgive

“For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” Hebrews 8:12 (ESV)

God, in His omniscience, has the capacity to remember our sins no more. God is infinite and we are finite. We do not have the capacity to forgive and forget. Of course, it seems at times that we forget what we need to remember and remember what we need to forget. Even after we have extended forgiveness to someone who has wounded us, it can be difficult to forget the experience and the pain involved.

You can be driving down the road or watching television or surfing the internet, and an image will trigger the memory of being wounded by someone you have already forgiven. Forgiveness includes memory. Forgiveness is not the ability to remember no more, but rather being able to say, “Though I remember, I choose to forgive.”

Forgiveness is a choice. Harboring bitterness and resentment is a choice as well. I remember when I chose to visit my dad in jail to personally extend forgiveness to him for the hurt he had inflicted throughout my life due to his alcohol abuse. For years, I had chosen to allow unforgiveness to poison my life and to infuse my life with toxic bitterness. The day I chose to forgive my dad was the day I realized that, even though my dad was the one in prison, I had been imprisoned by my unforgiveness.

Yes, I remember the hurt and the pain of my dad’s alcohol abuse, but in the swirling current of memory, I choose to forgive. God uses my memory to remind me of His abundant grace in my life. God is not asking me to do anything He has not already done for me.

Following Jesus Every Day,

Stephen Trammell