"Truly, I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter."
- Mark 3:28
God forgives our sins and thus, we are supposed to forgive other people. Today, to forgive someone of something seems to have lost its true value and meaning; lost its power and thus, leads many people to have a wrong perspective on the nature of God's forgiveness and mercy. Forgiving someone is so much more than simply "getting over something." Forgiving someone means that you will choose to forget someone's wrongdoings.
How does that work? How can God "forget" our sins when He is omnipotent, omnipresent, and all-knowing? Does that really have to do with our own salvation?
Put it this way. If I punched you in the face right now, you probably wouldn't like me very much afterward. But when I come and ask for your forgiveness, I'm literally asking you to forget. I'm asking you to do far more than just move on, because simply moving on doesn't heal open wounds. In fact, the only way for me to truly be a friend back to you would be if you forgave, if you chose to forget what I've done.
Imagine every time we sin and fall short of God, that it's like we're slapping God in the face. God hates sin, it says in the Bible, and God surely doesn't like getting slapped in the face. However, if we just so much as ask Him, God will choose to forget. He will forgive us of our transgressions, no matter how big or small.
"When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross."
-Colossians 2:13-14
And that's the truly amazing thing about forgiveness. God forgets what we've done when we ask Him to. God took away our sins and carried them to the cross. That way, we are restored in God's sight, and once again we are pure in God's eyes.
"Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has come to His people and redeemed them."
-Luke 1:68
So the next time that someone wrongs us, what should we do?
Be like God here; choose to forget, for that is what God did for us.
