| One of the greatest aspects of God's forgiveness | | | | warm smile and brief embrace. As the Pastor |
| for sins in Christ is the fact that he also forgets | | | | reached into his pocket for the church check, he |
| them. We have the assurance that he remembers | | | | looked into the man's face and hesitated for a |
| our sins no more. He purposely and permanently puts | | | | moment. The man thought that surely the Pastor had |
| them out of his memory and never revisits them. | | | | just recognized him and had changed his mind about |
| We can conclude from God's example, that | | | | helping. He knew this was a bad idea, asking the man |
| sometimes it is better to forget than to remember. | | | | he had cheated to help. He might as well just tell him |
| It is apparent that Joseph understood this as Moses | | | | to leave. |
| records in Genesis 41:51 "And Joseph called the name | | | | Before the man could speak however, the Pastor |
| of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath | | | | said in a soothing voice, "You know, I just don't think |
| made me forget…." | | | | my church is doing enough to help. Please allow me |
| Joseph had suffered many terrible injustices in his | | | | to add my personal check to this amount. I am sure |
| young life. His own brothers hated him for no reason | | | | you and your family can use it." |
| and sold him into slavery. He was accused of a crime | | | | As the Pastor wrote out another check, the man fell |
| he did not commit. He was thrown into prison for an | | | | under heavy conviction and wondered what to say. |
| undetermined amount of time. Surely Joseph could | | | | Surely this Pastor was trying to make him feel guilty. |
| have been justifiably bitter. He could have lamented | | | | Surely this act of kindness was nothing more than a |
| over all that had befallen him. He could have resented | | | | ploy to work on his conscience. |
| that God allowed great adversity and suffering in his | | | | While the man was pondering these things, the |
| life. | | | | Pastor finished writing the check out and handed |
| Instead, Joseph reached down inside of himself, | | | | both checks to him. The Pastor then asked if he |
| where his faith was housed, and found the strength | | | | could pray for the family. The man knew that the |
| to persevere. In faith, with a grateful heart, he | | | | prayer was going to be a sermon in disguise about |
| named his son Manasseh, which means "forgetting". | | | | fairness and doing right, but he did not know how to |
| He reasoned "for God…hath made me | | | | say "no" after the kindness he was shown; and so |
| forget". The things that had befallen him could have | | | | he reluctantly acknowledged "sure, that would be |
| weighed heavily on his heart, but God had given him | | | | okay." |
| grace to not only forgive the wrongs that were | | | | The Pastor bowed his head and asked the Lord's |
| done to him, but to forget them. | | | | blessing upon the man, his family and their home. He |
| A Pastor I knew sold an automobile to a man. He | | | | asked the Lord to bless them financially and to lead |
| received half the payment upfront, with the | | | | the church to know if there was anything else they |
| remainder to follow a month later. When he went to | | | | could do for them. He closed by asking the Lord to |
| the man's house to receive the second and final | | | | draw this family near to him. There was no mention |
| installment, the man said "I am not paying you | | | | of the automobile, no sermon, no ulterior motive. It |
| another dime. I have the car and I am keeping it". He | | | | was as if the Pastor had completely forgotten the |
| then slammed the door in the Pastor's face. | | | | wrong this man had done to him. |
| Several parishioners advised the Pastor to take legal | | | | A few weeks later, the man and his family came to |
| action. A lawyer friend offered to take the case to | | | | visit the church that had paid their debts. They heard |
| Small Claims Court without charging the Pastor for his | | | | the gospel message. They heard how the Lord Jesus |
| services. The Pastor politely declined and explained | | | | Christ had paid another debt that they had not even |
| that the few thousand dollars owed did not outweigh | | | | known about. The whole family walked the aisle and |
| the worth of the man's soul and that it was better | | | | received the Lord. |
| to forgive and forget the debt than to injure his | | | | Like Joseph, this Pastor had emulated his Lord and |
| Christian testimony to the man. | | | | added forgetfulness to his forgiveness. Had he held |
| Several months later, this Pastor was called upon to | | | | on to the terrible injustice this man had done, he |
| help a needy family in the community. It turned out | | | | would never have been able to be a witness to the |
| to be the family of the man who had | | | | love and mercy of the Lord. By forgetting, God was |
| misappropriated his automobile. When the door | | | | able to use him in a tremendous way |
| opened to the Pastor's knock, the man immediately | | | | Forgetting should be a word used often in the |
| recognized him and expected that the Pastor might | | | | Christian vocabulary. It is far better to forget and |
| recognize him and turn around and leave. | | | | forgive than it is to remember and resent. |
| Instead, the humble man of God greeted him with a | | | | |