Forgotten but not forgiven

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace… Ephesians 1:7

(This is the first of several truths that were revealed during the Canadian Canoe Trip from which I just returned. Thanks to the insight of our mentor and leader Pastor Jim, these lessons were not lost on us.)

There are computers, databases, grudges and lots of other mechanisms to ensure that there’s a high probability that anything we do or say on this earth, especially things we wish we had not, will be remembered and recalled later to our embarrassment, shame or detriment in some way. When crossing through customs into Canada, a cursory view of Passport and ID takes place, but like any process with a quality control element, there is the sampling process where in a small percentage of vehicles are scrutinized more closely.

One of our brothers in the vehicle chosen for screening had, many years ago, received a vehicle citation which he thought had passed the period of tracking and was completely expunged from history. But, you guessed it, the computers, even in Canada, hadn’t forgotten. That’s the way it is with man. Sometimes even when we forget we still don’t forgive. We hang on to hurt, and betrayal like prized possessions and lock it into our memory with such meticulous digital encryption and password security that Bill Gates would be envious.

Praise be to God that we have the ultimate example of forgiveness and Grace to turn our attitude and tendencies away from just forgetting to truly forgiving. Paul summarized Christ’s teaching when he said, Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Colossians 3:13 Not easy, brother don’t I know, but rest with me in Jesus’ promise of salvation, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26 We were thrown off our itinerary by an hour, but gained an offsetting insight into Gods plan for our lives and for our trip. It only gets better...

Bless you brothers, live this day in peace, in His Word.