Forgive, Forget, Remember ~ January, 2015.

Often, I am struck with impressions, some I am unsure of at first, but continue to sweep over me until I ask God if they have application to others beside myself.  If you are just joining these Morning Briefings, I have been writing about striving for more, spiritually speaking, in 2015.

In the last week, I have logged many hours bedside with my sister (76), who is about to break the tape and bust into heaven.  Being in the room when a baby is born is euphoric, magical and miraculous, but being with someone in their last earthly hours is even more sacred, if they know Jesus.  While there are tears, there is also the hush of the divine, and the peace of the Savior, as he is about to welcome one of his own home.

All three of her adult children were in the room, speaking words of comfort as waves of physical pain swept over her, and I had hymns playing softly from my phone near her head.  But then the kids’ dad called, (from whom she has been apart for almost 50 years), and the phone was placed to her ear, the hymns silenced.  Honestly, I craned my ear to hear what he said, but only caught these words, ‘I have always loved you, all these years, I have always loved you.’  Tears rolled down my cheeks as I thought about all of the broken years, and looked at first one of her daughters, then the other, and then her son.  ‘I have always loved you.’  It has rung in my ears, over and over.  And I wondered, should they never have been apart?  What if they had forgiven?  What if they had forgotten?  What if they had not given up?  Are there things they should have forgotten, and things they should have remembered?

And then I thought of us—you and me—heading into this New Year. What things should we remember, and what things should we forget?  My mentor¹ reminded me in his end of the year sermon that we must be diligent about both.  As I recently noted Paul’s words, ‘one thing I do - forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on.’² We cannot move into this new year bound by the sins we have committed, as Jesus has forgiven and forgotten³ our confessed sins – as the Lord said, “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”³ David put it this way, ‘He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.’⁴ As we move into this new year, we must forget our past sins.

Second, we’ve got to forget others’ sins against us.  We must forget what people have done to us, what people have said about us, so we are not missing out on what God wants to do now.  I don’t know about you, but for the deep hurts I have incurred, my mind easily slips into replaying tapes of things said and done that have hurt my heart.  If God can forgive me and forget my sins, I must do so as well, otherwise they will hold me down and hold me back—forgetting what lies behind, I press on. 

I am now in Chicago for a weeklong class at Northwestern University.  As a single woman dining in a restaurant, the best seat to take is at the end of the bar—particularly in my case as I was finishing the book for my class.  Tonight I noticed a lone man, seated toward the door who seemed to be waiting.  While I continued reading and eating, I was aware that his ‘date’ never came, and I felt bad for him.  Out the window, it was snowing and blowing—and of course, I loved it.  I turned around to check on him once as he was looking at the window, and caught a glimpse of handcuffs attached to his back belt loop and a gun on his right hip.  Then I realized he was on the job. 

At first, I engaged my cop friend about the snow—how did he feel about it?  ‘Oh, I think of my elderly neighbors’ drives I will be shoveling…’ [This briefing isn’t long enough for me to capture our entire conversation] It did not take too many questions until I got to my standard, ‘so, are you a man of faith?’  ‘Oh yeah,’ he said.  ‘How so?’ I asked.  ‘Well my dad was a pastor for forty some odd years…’  ‘Yeah, so what about you?’  I pried.  (Remember, I am 2100 miles from home—this is a one and done for me—I won’t have another chance to talk with this fellow.)  ‘Oh yeah, I believe.’  Our conversation continued and one comment Hector made resonated as strongly with me as the phone call of my former brother-in-law a couple days ago.  ‘I know God has a calling on my life, but I’m not ready yet.’ 

What a thing to say, what an incredible thing to know—God has a calling on your life!  ‘And what,?’ I looked into his eyes.  ‘Oh, I’m not ready yet.’  ‘Seriously?  Step out, Man—ask God to show you one thing each day you might do to move you toward your calling!’ 

Perhaps my sister should have forgiven, should have forgotten things said, things done with/by her first husband, I don’t know; I just know that the encounter impacted me greatly, just as Hector’s comment about his calling.  Are there things you should forgive, and things you should forget as you move into 2015?

Oh, and what things should you remember as you move into 2015? 

~You should remember that God loves you,

  ~You should remember the great things God has done for you,

    ~You should remember that God is always faithful,

      ~And you should remember that thing to which he has called you! 

Forgive, Forget, Remember.

1 – Pastor Jim Cymbala, Brooklyn Tabernacle;   2 – Philippians 3.13,14;    3 – Isaiah 43.25;         4 – Psalm 103.12;   5 – Psalm 77.11