“I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins” (Is. 43:25).

I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time forgetting when people hurt my family or me, especially my family. When I receive lacking customer service at a public place, I tend to exclaim, “I’ll never go back there again because of the way they treated me!” Or, if I receive unsatisfactory service at a restaurant, I tend to say the same. Dare I say, when my wife upsets or offends me, I tend to allow it to linger in my mind. All of us do this – we do not forget certain things, especially when they hurt our loved ones or us.

But how many times do we consider the hurt we place of the Lord when our holiness and godliness is lacking? Or do we consider this at all?

Must I admit to you the many times I do not? I am the world’s worst at failing to consider those I hurt whenever I make mistakes. I don’t want to assume everyone’s motives, but most people do not consider the effects of the sin. Otherwise, they probably would change their course of action. But the problem is this: we all sin and make mistakes; all of us have issues and sinful natures. Therefore, we are going to hurt people, and we will, in fact, hurt the Lord also.

Paul wrote in Romans that all of us have a sinful nature that falls short of God’s standard for righteousness (Rom. 3:23). Paul also shows us that none of us seek after God, and no one is righteous (Rom. 3:10-11). But this is just the foundation that shows us our own sinfulness. The beauty of the gospel, however, is what we find in Isaiah 43 and Hebrews 8: God chooses to remember the sins of his people NO MORE. This might be the most important gospel statement one can understand about the message itself.

When you place your faith and trust in Christ, your sins – past, present, and future – are forgotten. It is not that God has amnesia or has a forgetful mind. No, he chooses to remember your sins no more! It is as if he looks at you – a guilty sinner deserving of eternal judgment – and sees Christ’s righteousness. Therefore, when God looks at you, he sees you as if you had never sinned! Instead, he sees you clothed in Christ’s righteousness!

So, dear Christian, rest assured today that your sins have been forgiven AND forgotten by a God that chooses to forget them because of his great love for us.