Forget me not

"For I will forgive their wickedness and will remembers their sins no more." Isaiah 31:34b

Something has always bothered me about that verse. "As far as the east is from the west" (Psalm 103:12) sounded good but erasing my sins completely from His memory didn't sit well with me. Is it strange for me to remember something that God has forgotten? Aren't we called to go into the world and share the gospel? Are we supposed to do this sharing without talking about our sins?? If I leave my sins out of the story then what did God save me from? Is it really about memory or is it about His remembering to hold our sins against us? 

When we share our failures with each other we are united in the truth that no one can save us but God. No one deserves to be saved and no one is better than anyone else. We are all one in Christ. I heard a devotional at camp a couple years ago about this very subject of remembering.  It was so refreshing to my mind, heart, and soul because he talked about how God does remember and even sets up memorials for significant events throughout the history. 

Genesis 9:16 "Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth." God flooded the earth one time and then promised to never do it again. Even today He forms rainbows in the sky to remind us of His promise.

Joshua 4:5-7 "Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?' tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever." God wanted His people to remember what had happened there.

Even before the temple was built, God had designed a way for people to bring offerings to remember significant things God had done and to bring sacrifices for sins that had been committed. There were specific rituals and ceremonies for remembering all kinds of things the Lord had done. One of the most well known is Passover, remembering when God brought His people out of Egypt and started them out on a journey to the Promised Land. Numbers 9: 1-3 "The Lord spoke to Moses in the Desert of Sinai in the first month of the second year after they came out of Egypt. He said "Have the Israelites celebrate the Passover at the appointed time. Celebrate it at the appointed time, at twilight on the fourteenth day of this month in accordance with all its rules and regulations.""

The most significant memorial is the very body of Jesus, His hands, feet, and side. He encouraged Thomas to touch his hands and side to remember what happened, to stop doubting and believe in Him. John 20:27 "Then He said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.""

It is such a relief to hear that God remembers things instead of always hearing about Him purposefully forgetting things. I realize more as I get older, how comforting it is to me when other people know my history and love me anyway. It is reassuring to know that others have walked through life with me and have taken note of what God has done. And it is all the more wonderfully grounding and stabilizing to know that God knows my history. He holds the future but He also holds my past. He knows full well what He has saved me from and will never forget the journey He has brought me on to know Him more. 

The part that He remembers no more is the punishment for my sins. Jesus paid it all so there is no more debt. The debt has, not only been paid, it has been erased from my name and put in His name. My debt no longer exists. He doesn't go back and delete or white stuff out. He put my debt in His name and wrote with His blood 'paid in full' over all of it. Now He gives me opportunities to tell other people what He has done and how He's done it. 

He remembers your sins no more but He knows every detail of your story. He will never leave you or forsake you or forget anything about you. He loves us more deeply than we can comprehend and His love endures forever. 

I got in my car after work one evening, looked up,
 saw this, and my day was redeemed.

Doing Life Together

I send myself on missions trips. I just realized that's been my pattern lately...maybe all along. Interesting concept. I have close friends who live near and (mostly) far and one of my favorite things is to go visit them. I hardly care where they live. I just care that they are there. Sight seeing is close to last on my list of priorities. Quality time is number one in my heart. I want to step into their lives and experience their routines. I want to meet and connect with their families, most especially their children. I want to PLAY and learn what makes those precious little souls soar. Laughing and learning and being silly are fuel for mine. 

What is their language and how quickly can I learn it? What makes them smile and how often can I do that? What will they remember and how can I encourage more of that? How can I support, encourage, and love my friends and even take them out of their parenting roles and help them see that they are not only wonderful parents but wonderful friends. They tend to forget that fact when they get married and, once they become parents, they think it was something they used to be. When that moment happens that their confidence is renewed and they see what I get to see, that is the moment I treasure and want to hold up to them like a mirror so they can't brush it off as a dream or fluke. It was and is real. They really are wonderful friends worth more than gold and are most precious to me. 

Of course, these trips come with a cost. They are never easy for me. I arrive and see a complete family: A husband who mostly knows me as his wife's friend, a wife who is my friend but her most important roles in life are wife and mother, and children who may or may not remember me because they were either very young or weren't alive yet during my last visit. We all have to get acquainted and warmed up to each other. It's awkward and there are some false starts sometimes but we work through it. I try to bond with the kids because I want them to like me and I want to be able to give my friends a break from some of the responsibilities of parenting. And while I know I will deeply enjoy falling in love with the children, I realize I also have ulterior motives. I know that I won't get any quality time with my friends if their children are clinging to them and leery of me the whole time I'm visiting. I have to make space for myself without threatening anyone or encroaching on anyone else's space.  

It's funny though, I start off one way and then I get carried away and immersed in learning about everyone in the family. I end up loving the whole family and it's no longer about me. Then the hardest part becomes, not making space but, saying goodbye. UGH! NO!!! I strongly dislike that part. It means I have to leave more pieces of my heart behind. It's painful but it's also good. I always cry, no matter how hard I fight it. My heart has been expanded and my world less self-focused. Great is God's faithfulness to teach me the same lesson over and over again with such gentle and unwavering patience. His mercies are new every morning and on every trip.

The common phrases and challenges I hear in church these days are to "do life together", "live on mission", and "be the church". I often use these phases as punch lines (because trendy phrases bring out the sarcasm in me). But this last week especially, I've learned to recognize what those phrases look like and mean to me in my life. Turns out, despite myself, I love doing life together. 

I hope this long tale, in some way, encourages you as you continue to learn what God has for you each day. As you do life with the people around you, may God remind you of His unwavering faithfulness. He will never leave you or forsake you.