BITS & PIECES

1. SHAME & FORGETFULNESS –

Is it just me, or do we all seem to FORGET more and more as we grow older? You know,
things like "Now where did I put those car keys?" or "Did I get the milk?
*What* milk???" It seems that our "instant recall" of yesterday isn’t so
"instant" today. It’s a fact of life, I suppose.

However, there is a bit of irony here. Like most of my (honest) readers, I have done
things (too many things) during periods of my life that I am deeply ashamed of – things
that I would go back and do over if at all possible. Of course, our darkest secrets are
often kept from friends, relatives, and especially enemies and strangers.

These are the things that we *want* to forget. But in case you haven’t noticed, it is
most often the case that such are the very things that we *cannot* forget. Our sins seem
to be etched upon our subconcious permanently at times. Our conscience, far from being
only a "present" faculty, dabbles in the past as well.

It is interesting that at least one writer has identified "the books" of Rev.
with our subconcious mind: "Experiments are tending to show increasingly that
everything of which we have had conscious awareness is somehow filed away where it may
become inaccessible to voluntary recall, but is apparently indelibly recorded
nevertheless. Is it possible that these indelible records constitute the books which are
to be opened in the time of Judgment as revealed in Revelation 20:12? Is it possible that
the Judgment is essentially a process of complete recall, of being exposed to, faced with,
and called upon to evaluate in the light of the life of Jesus Christ all the innermost
thoughts and schemes and selfish choices of our whole life? Would not this constitute a
judgment utterly and completely fair?" <Arthur Custance, MAN IN ADAM & IN
CHRIST, Part VI, Chapter 1.>

But what about here and now? Even as believers, our hearts often condemn us over the
things which we have done. I am not convinced that it should be this way. In fact, I am
convinced that it *shouldn’t* be this way. When we live this way, beating ourselves up
over past sins, we actually are denying the power of the Gospel in our lives.

Consider Saul of Tarsus. This man was determined to wipe the Christian Faith off the
face of the earth, and set about to do just that – murdering Christians wherever and
whenever he could do so (cf. Acts 8:1-3). Then he encountered Jesus Christ on the road to
Damascus (Acts 9). Thereafter "Saul," also known as "Paul," became an
Apostle of Jesus Christ. Something had happened to Saul, but what? Simply put, the
murderer of Christians called Saul was D-E-A-D, and in his place stood the new-born Paul.

I am sure that this is a concept that we must wrap our minds and hearts around. Paul
tells us that when Christ died, *we* died as well (2 Cor. 5:14). And when that reality is
appropriated through faith and repentance, it is a given that we shall also "live
with Him" (2 Tim. 2:11). We are born AGAIN (John 3:3-8) as children of God (John
1:12) – "old things have passed away; behold, all things have become NEW" (2
Cor. 5:17). Not even the vilest things from our past can ever separate us from the love of
God in Christ (Romans 8:33-39). Such acts are gone – they are nothing more than the acts
of a DEAD person.

King David got negative: "Iniquities prevail against me." This is the very
thing I’m writing about here; I think that we have all felt that way – overcome by our
sin; by our guilt. But with the very next breath, David gets positive: "as for our
transgressions, Thou shall PURGE THEM AWAY" (Psalm 65:3). 

That God has indeed done this very thing is confirmed by the writer of Hebrews:
"How much more shall the blood of Christ, Who through the Eternal Spirit offered
Himself without spot to God, PURGE YOUR CONSCIENCE FROM DEAD WORKS to serve the living
God?" (Heb. 9:14; cf. Rev. 1:5). This is precisely what was EXPECTED by the OT
prophets, and was announced at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry by John the Baptist:
"Behold the Lamb of God, Who TAKESAWAY the sin of the world!"  (John 1:29).

Satan can no longer accuse us before God (Rev. 12:14 – fulfilled at the cross), but he
still likes to remind US about those "dead works." The Devil romps in a
fantasy-land of his own devising, and he is an expert at making us forget this – even
while our sins are remembered. Next time the sins of your past rise up to condemn you,
give Satan a reality check by recalling your status in Christ. May we reckon ourselves
DEAD to sin, and walk in newness of life (Romans 6:11-13) – just as Paul did. 

While we may remember our sins, God does not – that is the REALITY that we believers
must get in on: "For this is the covenant I will make…I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more" (cf.
Heb. 8:10-12; see also Psalm 103:12; Isa. 43:25; 44:22; Jer. 31:34; 50:20; Micah 7:19;
Acts 3:19; Rom. 11:27).

This "Divine amnesia" on God’s part is the essence of the New Covenant in
Christ, and stands in stark contrast to the Old Covenant – which featured (among other
things) the REMEMBRANCE of sins (Heb. 10:3). You see, the New Covenant is grounded in God
demonstrating His *love* for us in Christ (Romans 5:8). Our God *is* love (1 John 4:8),
and perfect love "keeps no record of wrongs" (1 Cor. 13:5 – NIV).

May God give us the necessary grace to say with Paul: "I count not myself to have
apprehended; but this one thing I do, FORGETTING THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE BEHIND, and
reaching forth to those things which are before: I PRESS TOWARD the mark for the prize of
the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil’p. 3:13-14).