It's Time to Forgive and Forget

These United States of America, a Constitutional Republic, drawn up and based on the moral and ethical notion of God’s Word, for the people and governed by the people, is failing because its people are eating the wrong food to sustain a strong spiritual lifestyle. Without a high level of Godly spirit, this country is doomed to fall into the hands of the evil one. Mankind is sinful, weak and selfish, which brings about poor judgement producing huge mistakes at times. Ethnic cleansing and destruction of history is futile. Recourse in the proper use of our Constitution and obedience to God works.

We are told that a bird can go nine days without food, a dog 20 days, a turtle 500 days, a snake 800 days, a fish 1000 days, and some insects 12,000 days. For a human – three to six weeks is about the limit. Sooner or later nourishment is necessary for all God’s creatures. Have you noticed that we are not often asked to “read” the Word of God? Rather we are urged to study it, meditate upon it, and compare spiritual things with spiritual. In other words, God wants us to put in a consecrated effort when we approach the Scriptures, for in this way we will more readily assimilate its sweet nourishment and good doctrine. Many are starving to death spiritually; not because food is unavailable but simply because they will not eat of it. What home does not have a Bible or opportunity to attend worship? A Bible on the shelf is of no more value than food in the refrigerator. Feed your soul! America is going to die without the Creator.

[Luke 6:20-36] The phrase “forgive and forget” has been in the English language for a long time. An older member of the church once commented to me concerning forgiving and forgetting, “I don’t know which is harder to do!” As difficult as they are for us humans to do–do them we must if we are to have forgiveness from our Father in heaven (Matthew 6:15). Forgiveness in the original language of the Bible has the connotation of “to send away.” For example in Micah 7:19 we read that God will “cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” When God forgives us, He sends our sins (and the guilt of them) so far away they can never be reached again. Truly God is the epitome of “forgive and forget.” But I wish to examine the phrase “forgive and forget” from another angle. I noticed that inside the words “forgive” and “forget” are the words “give” and “get.” In other words, to truly get the benefits that forgiveness can bring, we must first give something. For those of us desiring the forgiveness of another, we need to give that person a truly repentant attitude and lifestyle (Matthew 3:8). Then and only then will we get reconciliation with our brother or sister in Christ. For those of us needing to forgive another, we need to give an attitude of compassion and willingness to work out/forget our differences toward the one who has wronged us (Matthew 5:23-24). As a wise person once noted, we may not be able to totally forget that we were wronged, but we can act like it never happened. The Christians at Corinth were to forgive a brother who obviously had repented. Paul writes to them “you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow. Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him” (2 Corinthians 2:7-8). The wayward brother was giving to them, and now they were to give, as well. They were to confirm their love once again for him by forgiving and comforting him. All involved would benefit from this. So let’s always remember to “forgive and forget.” And let’s always remember that to get, we must first give. Our founding fathers gave everything for the freedoms we enjoy today. Isn’t it time to forgive and forget their mistakes and move forward?