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Have you ever apologized to someone and asked for their forgiveness, and they said they forgave you, but hardly a day went by that they didn’t remind you of it? This can happen in our human relationships. You may even be guilty of holding something over someone else’s head, even though you said you forgave them.
Here’s the thing: when you go to God for forgiveness and you truly repent, he remembers it against you no more. No more! He never brings it up again. You may have trouble putting it behind you, but God doesn’t.
I’ve been sharing parts of my conversation with Dάmaris Carbaugh as we talk about God’s unfailing love. I love what she said about an attribute of God’s unfailing love:
Dάmaris: Romans 8:1 begins with there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. What Paul means is once you ask me to forgive you, I never bring that back up. Who will? The accuser of the brethren. Not the accuser of the unbeliever, the accuser of those who have decided to follow Christ and to love and serve him. He’ll bring back memories of failures and that’s where we need God’s word to remind us of who we are now and listen – yes I did those things, but he forgave me. I’m forgiven and he didn’t condemn me. And when we get into a “funk” it really paralyzes us . We’re not going on with what God wants us to do. It will just paralyze you to not do anything for the Lord. Because you’re just stuck in a pity party of how awful you’ve been. Warren Wiersbe said He didn’t come for those who are good. There are not any good people. He came for those who are not good, for those that are terrible and he loved us to the utmost.
We all really need to live our lives in the incredible truth that God’s love never fails. And the enemy of our soul will do everything he can to keep you from knowing the depth of God’s love because he knows that the more you understand it, the more you are set free from guilt, from condemnation, from our past.
If you would like to learn how to receive a copy of Dάmaris’s cd Walk With Me, click here.