I FORGOT BUT GOD FORGAVE

"I forgot." I cannot tell you how many times I hear that phrase in a day. It is perhaps one of the most common phrases used as an excuse for something you should have done and didn't. There is no telling how many times I said it to my own parents. And now, I hear it from my children. "Why didn't you clean your room?"..."I forgot!" or "Why didn't you take out the trash?" ... "I forgot!" Even as an adult, I use the phrase often. "Mom, did you get me the notebook paper I need for school?" "No, I forgot." I could go on and on, but I won't. In a spiritual sense we say the same thing to God just about as often. I mean, don't you think He asks too? "Why weren't you in church when my Word specifically says that you are not to forsake the assembling.....?" "Oops, sorry Lord, I forgot." or "Why did you say that when you know my Word specifically says not to let corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth?" "Sorry again Lord, I forgot." Again, I could go on and on, but I won't. We have a tendency to think that God is forgetful, like we are. We take verses in His own Word and twist them out of context, in order to do what we want to. For instance, we will do something we know we are not supposed to (sometimes even when we know we shouldn't) and we will do them anyway. Then, we will say, "Well, I asked God to forgive me and he doesn't hold it against me anymore." You know what? I wish that were true. I mean, the thing that IS true, is that before I knew Him as my Father, I was a dirty sinner on my way to hell, and when I accepted Him as my Saviour, he took me, knowing what I was (and would be) and forgave me of those sins. He buried them "in the deepest part of the sea" (Ps.103:12), or "as far as the east is from the west." (Micah 7:19) At least those are the parts we like to remember anyway. But He still loves me, and He still claims me as His own, even now that I am a saved, rotten sinner! BUT, His Word says something we tend to over look. II Cor. 5:10 says, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." Now if I understand this correctly, we will stand before Christ and be judged for the things we've done "in the body". Well, I don't know about you, but I certainly am still in my body. So, even though Christ forgave and continues to forgive me of all my sin, He is STILL going to hold me accountable for what I have done since I became HIS. And thankfully, He is still going to let me live in His Heaven, even though I don't deserve it. I may not have as many rewards as I had before I did those things "in the body" that I knew I shouldn't do and did anyway, but I still get to go to heaven because I am HIS child. PRAISE THE LORD and THANK YOU JESUS!!! So, next time you start to tell someone that they should forget all your sins, like God does, you need to remember two things: 1. We will never be like God or as good as God, until we get to heaven. We can "...press toward the mark...." but we will never attain the perfection of God. 2. God does forgive but we are still held accountable for what we've done. Our God is not mindless. He doesn't lose his mind just because we do. We have to stop putting Him on our level. HE IS NOT ON OUR LEVEL. He is WAY HIGHER than we could ever hope to be. II Corinthians 5:14-15 says"For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again." Praise the Lord for His forgiveness and move on with your life. But, don't expect that you can "live unto yourself" and not be held accountable. Before I close, let me give you one example. If the church treasurer steals all the churches money, and spends it, BUT he comes back and asks for forgiveness, do you forgive him? The answer is YES! Do you let him go back to being the treasurer? NOPE! Are you then holding his sin over his head? I don't think so. I mean, I trust the Lord to keep my children safe but I don't let them play on 465 in rush hour traffic either. God gave us (well, most anyway) common sense. Let's use it!