Those seven words put together make up such a powerful statement. When I read that, it almost blew my mind away...I don't really know how to explain the feeling lah.
For me, it means three things.
One, when God says He forgives me, He's telling me that there's NO PROBATION TIME, NO TRIAL PERIOD. His forgiveness for me is for REAL, and guess what? The best part is, He promises NOT to bring it up, ever again, in the future, and He will NOT use it against me nor remind me of the horrible and yucky stuff I've done in the past. Such a wonderful promise, isn't it? =)
Two, it simply means that when I say I forgive you or you or you, I am making a promise never to use your past as a weapon against you. Sure it sounds easy enough...but I guess it really does require a lot of effort, and not just any kind of effort on my own. It's the kind of effort where I need to depend on the Holy Spirit to help me through to NOT DO A THING EXCEPT TO REMAIN CALM AND COMPOSED when what I really feel is like punching the person in the head, or feel like gorging their eyeballs out, or feel like pulling their hair out, or feel like lashing out at them and say, "You did this and that and this and that to me!!!"
Oh God, help me...help me to remember that forgiveness is a promise and not just a feeling.
Three, it reminds me of those people who've said, "I forgive you" to me...they understand what it truly means to forgive, and have kept their promise not to use my past as a weapon against me. To those people, I thank you...you have shown much grace and mercy, and it's highly commendable. =)
