What God Remembers
“I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.” Psalm 130:5
On May 30, 2003 I officiated my first wedding for two friends, Buddy and Victoria in Atlanta, GA. I was doing my best to look calm, cool and collected. Meanwhile, I was nervous, anxious and perspiring like crazy.
Just before we prepared to walk out in front of the congregation, Buddy’s dad shared some words of “encouragement” with me. His dad had served as a minister of a small church in Pickens, SC for many years. Knowing that this was my first ever wedding, he said: “Rob, as a minister, you will be part of the most important events in peoples lives. You will be there when people are born and when they are buried. You will baptize people, marry people, serve them communion, ….Rob, I want you to know that people will never, ever, ever forget the mistakes that you make.”
Wow! Not what I expected him to say. He meant it all in good fun and that’s exactly how I took it. Interestingly enough, his words were all too true. People tend to remember the mistakes that we make. We tend to remember the mistakes that we make. It’s much harder to remember the good and all too easy to remember the bad.
We tend to think that this is how God relates to us. We think that He remembers all of our mistakes—all of our failure and sin. Nothing could be further from the truth.
In Psalm 130 David says: “If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.” Can you believe that? That’s great news.
Dr. Tim Keller writes: “Forgiveness means giving up the right to seek repayment from the one who harmed you. But it must be recognized that forgiveness is a form of voluntary suffering. What does that mean?… To forgive is to cancel a debt by paying it or absorbing it yourself. Someone always pays every debt.”
Forgiveness is one of the greatest gifts God has ever given us. God does not define us by our sin but defines us by the saving work of His Son. God canceled the debt caused by our sin by absorbing it Himself and placing it upon His Son. On the cross, the Lord Jesus paid the penalty for all of our sins—past, present, and future. Run to Him and rest in Him.