Memory

Our memory is a fascinating thing. It allows us to travel into the past and experience things again. Granted, that is not always good. I have a friend in Tennessee who can remember specific items from as far back as six months of age. The only way I even know I was six months of age is that I am alive now!

There are some experiences in my past that bring me wonderful joy when I recall them. There are others that cause me great pain. Still others are just events in my past. I am sure you are not that much different. Did you ever stop to think about God having a memory problem? Now before you go and report me to the Theology police, hear me out.

A church I served twenty years ago, loved to hear their choir. This choir had a song they loved to sing – a little too much as I recall. I do not recall the title, but the lyrics contained the phrase, “What sins are you talking about?” The gist was concerning someone confessing the same sin repeatedly to God only to hear Him reply, “What sin are you talking about? I don’t remember them any more. They were forgiven by the death of Christ and placed as far as the east is from the west and in the depths of the sea.”

The principle for the song comes from Jeremiah 31:34 where it says God “will remember their sins no more.” Now we all know that God does not have memory fade when he says that. It cannot mean He forgets. It does not mean God remembers to forget. Those explanations all try to understand God in human terms. So what does it mean? The most obvious meaning is that the accountability for those sins will no longer be held to the account of the offenders. Why? The context of the verse is the New Covenant and God’s dealing with His people. The principle is that Christ has paid in full for our sin and the penalty is no longer valid for those covered by grace and faith.

This is Memorial Day weekend in the United States. It is a time when we choose to remember. We choose to recall selfless acts of heroism by the men and women who served in our military. I am not discussing anything relating to what our God of peace felt in those situations, that is not the point in any stretch of discussion here. The point I AM making is that this is a weekend we choose to remember the past and acts contained therein.

Here is a comforting word this Memorial Day weekend. No matter what your sin or actions, past or present – It is not held to your account. Jesus Christ paid it in full. While on the cross when Jesus said, “It is finished,” He was indeed stating that among other things the penalty for our sins is completely paid for!!” What a joyous thought for those who place faith in Christ. God will not require any payment for sin.

As the old hymn says “Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.”