The memory needs to go

 If you, God, kept records on wrongdoings, who would stand a chance? As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit, and that’s why you’re worshiped. (Psalm 130:3-4)

I am more than grateful that God is in this 'habit' of forgiving, how about you? It is more than a 'habit' for God, though. It is part of his internal character - he loves so deeply and without compromise - it is like forgiveness is in his DNA. I am a record-keeper - I like to know what is happening, when, and where. I used to spend a great deal of time 'calendaring', recording, and taking tons of notes. Since I have retired, it is a bit different, but when one is a 'recordkeeper', the chances of something being missed or forgotten are far less likely than when one is not. Scripture doesn't say God doesn't notice, or that he forgets our wrongdoings - it says he doesn't keep a record! 

If God kept 'records' on you and me, what might we find recorded there? From a personal perspective I can recount numerous times I stretched the truth, didn't adhere to the set-out rules, or engaged in things I knew were completely outside of God's will for me. We all have our 'record' of wrongdoings that our minds like to hold onto, even way beyond the time they have been confessed and God's grace has thoroughly covered them! Our brains are 'recordkeepers' and that means we can recall things whenever we are feeling a bit down about how we are behaving right now. We begin to recount the number of times we have done something pretty similar in the past and how miserable we begin to feel as a result of remembering our woes.

God isn't into remembering our wrongdoings - he is focused on our present circumstances and how we will respond to his grace as it is applied to the present set of 'missteps'. Will we embrace his grace, turn away from the path we have taken that seems to be drawing us into all manner of wrongdoing at the moment, and set our focus squarely on what he tells us to do? It may take us a longer time to let go of the 'memory' of our wrongdoing, but God wants us to get to the place we 'remember no more' the things we have done wrong and focus squarely on the things he is helping us do 'right' in our lives as a result of having confessed and turned away from those 'wrong' actions. When we begin to focus on the 'right' rather than the memory of the wrong, we are going to begin to celebrate his grace a lot more in our lives. Just sayin!