He Forgets

I've been thinking lately about how God in His grace, FORGETS the wrong things I've done. When I come to Him and confess my wrong, He forgets. Even when I can't forget it, He does.

This song wraps it up so well. The chorus says,

"He forgets the sins He took to the cross
Every sin I can't pay, He forgets the cost
He knows who I am and all that I've done
When I come to Him and confess
Someway somehow He forgets!"

He doesn't say, "You know Courtney, here's the deal: you do this, this and this and I promise you that I'll forget any of this ever happened."

He doesn't say, "Sign on the dotted line right below the fine print and I'll forget how bad you are."

God doesn't make deals. He doesn't make you sign contracts and He never has fine print. God says, "You confessed it, I forget it."

Even when we go back and tell God how bad we are, He doesn't forsake us. He forgets.

Some Christians see themselves as unworthy, worthless wretches (which we are) and they "make up" for it by doing "good" things. We suffice ourselves by thinking we are appeasing God by replacing our wrong with our right.

Our right and God's right are as different as good and evil. Sometimes I wonder how long God can take it by not hammering into our heads that our righteousness is as filthy rags. He probably thinks that since He said it in His word as plain as day that maybe we should eventually get it.

But instead we crack out our Hebrew and Greek dictionaries and pick apart many doctorines until we can say them backwards. We read the verses on clothing and write enough books on the subject to fill all our bookshelves and all our time. We study the New Testament to get a check list on how to find the perfect Church.

And we read that "our righteousness is as filthy rags" and think that it means that by owning a Biblical wardrobe and simplifying our adornment, our righteousness is taken over by God's righteousness and we are no longer as the heathen. We think that filthy rags is what the ungodly churches have. The ones that wear bad clothes and listen to bad music. The ones that look like the world. The ones that aren't righteous. But, our righteousness is just as good as God's. Or so we think.

We wrap ourselves in our filthy rags of righteousness and call it holiness. God's righteousness is confined by our standards that we've contrived from a few little sermons and a few Greek words we've strung together. We continue to shine our filthy righteous rags and boast about ourselves in how the world is watching us because we have the truth. But most of our "truth" is only our righteousness. It's only filthy rags.

And God sits in Heaven and shakes His head because when we confess our wrong, we replace it with our right. We don't take on the image of Christ; we take on our own prescribed image of godliness.

If only the hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ would be accepted by all Christians for what it really is. More people could be living that abundant life that Jesus promises. He forgets the sins HE took to the cross! We don't have to pay and any attempt to do so belittles Christ's work on Calvary.

If our righteousness is really filthy rags like the Bible says, then let's believe and obey God's Word like Christians are supposed to. There is still hope because when we confess our filthy rags, God forgets our filthy sin.

Someway, somehow, HE FORGETS!