When God Forgets - Martin Wiles

And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins. Jeremiah 31:34b NLT

Things began slipping away…things I didn’t want to lose.

Memory. An interesting thing. When I was young, I had no trouble memorizing—anything, or a lot of things. Even in my twenties—while in college with a professor we called the “grocery list” professor because of the long list of items he made us memorize for tests—I sailed through the class with no problem, making an A with ease.

Then it happened. In my late thirties, people's names started to escape me. Then other things. My wife became my memory board—until she developed a brain tumor and struggled with remembering herself. Now as my age progresses toward retirement, I exercise my mind in numerous ways, hoping my ability to remember will hang around a little longer.

I discovered recently that age isn’t the only thing that affects remembering and forgetting. While attending a training conference for teachers, I decided to take a class on technology, taught by a gentleman who was my age. Since I teach middle schoolers, I thought I might pick up some new technology ideas I could use in the classroom.

I did, but I also discovered why my middle schoolers can’t seem to retain anything. The rapid advance of technology, which makes knowledge available at our fingertips, has shortened the short-term capabilities of our younger generation. They struggle to memorize—or don’t even try—because they don’t have to. If they want to know something, they google it.

While most things I don’t want to forget, some things I do want God to forget: my sins, in particular. And according to Jeremiah, He will when I ask Him to forgive me. How God can forget when the Bible pictures Him as omniscient (all-knowing), I don’t understand, nor can I explain. The best I can say is He chooses to forget. With me, age takes care of forgetting. With others, it might be busyness or brain damage. With God, doing so is a choice.

God wiping my sin slate clean bears importance. If He didn’t, He would still hold me accountable. That would bring His punishment—presently and eternally. But because of what His Son accomplished on Calvary’s cross, God can clothe me in Christ’s righteousness when I come to Him for forgiveness. This involves His forgetting my sins. If He didn’t choose to forget, He couldn’t clothe me this way.

When we stand in this wonderful position, we no longer fear God’s condemnation. Instead, he loves us and has accepted us into His family, with all the fringe benefits. His forgetting our sins should prompt us to love others and to do good for them as God has done for us. It should also lead us to stand in daily appreciation to our loving heavenly Father.

Has God forgotten your sins?

Prayer: Father, we thank You for forgetting our sins and clothing us in the righteousness of Your Son.

Tweetable: Has God forgotten your sins?

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Walk-on Wednesday - Cleansing the Conscience - Martin Wiles

Welcome to Walk-on Wednesday. By Hump Day, we are struggling, but we believe a good devotion can strengthen us to finish the week strong. 

For the gifts and sacrifices that the priests offer are not able to cleanse the consciences of the people who bring them. Hebrews 9:9 NLT

He was the sweetest man in the world when she married him . . . but that soon changed.

Peter and Catrina were high school sweethearts who planned their wedding for the summer after their graduation. Nine months later, Catrina delivered their baby girl. Shortly after Adeline’s birth, life took a downward turn when Peter lost his job.

Desperate, Peter decided to do what he wouldn’t have otherwise. He robbed a local store and buried the money in a vacant lot. But he left evidence behind that led to his arrest and a six-year prison sentence. The money, however, was never recovered. Catrina didn’t feel as if she could give him a second chance. She visited him only once while he was in jail.

Imagine Catrina’s surprise when six years later Peter showed up at a Christmas celebration hosted by the police chief. In his hand was the bag of money which he presented to the police chief. “It’s all there,” he said. Peter had done his time; all he wanted now was a second chance with his wife and daughter. Prison life hadn’t soothed his conscience.

Thousands upon thousands of sacrifices couldn’t pacify the raging consciences of the worshipers who brought them faithfully. The commands and ceremonies were merely temporary fixes until Christ came and paid what only a sinless person could pay.

Cleansed consciences are only possible by accepting and understanding what Christ has done. We could pay for our sins—but it would mean death and eternal punishment. No one else has offered to do this and couldn’t if they wanted since they are sinners as well.

Only the sinless Son of God could solve our dilemma. Knowing and believing that isn’t enough, however, to clear our consciences. We must believe our sins are forgiven. If we hang on to past mistakes he has forgiven—as Peter did—we’ll live continuously with false guilt. Satan will capitalize on our misunderstanding of forgiveness and make our lives miserable and useless.

What Christ has paid for and we’ve accepted, God will never hold against us again. Is your conscience clean?

Prayer: Father, cleanse our consciences from the false guilt that Satan attempts to inflict.

Tweetable: How do you cleanse your conscience? 

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Throwback Tuesday - Thinking Differently - Martin Wiles

Thinking Differently

The decisions of the majority aren’t always the best.

“If everyone else jumps off a building, would you jump too?” Or, “If everyone else goes to hell, do you want to go also?” Both favorite questions from my dad when I was growing up. His way of saying, “Consider the decision you’re making.” The questions normally had a moral fiber woven through them as well. The majority of my classmates may have been making poor moral decisions but that didn’t mean I had to mimic their behavior. I could think differently. Like God would want me to think. So I could behave in ways that pleased him and my parents. Read more...

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Changing the Mind - Martin Wiles

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you. Romans 12:2 NLT

Doing so may be a woman’s prerogative, but for me, it means bumped shins and stumped toes.

Moving furniture around is one of my wife’s favorite activities. It once was mine too. Before I got older and developed an aching back. Not that I detest changing things; I merely get accustomed to their arrangement and see no need for change. For me, buying a small piece of furniture doesn’t mean we have to move everything around in every room to accommodate it. Not so with my wife.

When furniture moves, I’m more apt to hurt myself. Stumping a toe accompanies a nighttime trip to the bathroom. A chair has moved. Or if not the toe, my shin. Until I get accustomed to the new arrangement, accidents happen. I have to re-orient my mind so even when I’m half asleep I think about the new order of things.

Paul challenges believers to renew their minds—and with good reasons. Danger lurks when we don’t. Renewing involves change, but this change is for my benefit.

To see the need to change my mind, I have to acknowledge it needs changing. Since Paul instructs me not to copy the customs and behavior of the world system, he must know I’m prone to do that. And I am because of inherent sinful nature and because of the fleshly nature, I retain even after letting Christ into my life.

Renewing my mind means reorienting it to think as God thinks. He ruminates on things that are good, righteous, holy, kind, loving, joyful, peaceful, and faithful. My normal thinking leads me away from such thoughts. Renewing my mind through Bible study, meditation, prayer, and accountability with other believers keeps me thinking properly.

My wife never seems to finish rearranging furniture, and I can’t ever cease renewing my mind. Since what I think leads to actions, I must renew my mind frequently so my daily actions match who I am in Christ: a new creation with new wants, desires, and emotions.

I suppose as long as my wife can move—or at least tell me too—we’ll move furniture. She’ll never know satisfaction with one particular arrangement. Nor should I when it comes to changing my mind.

Don’t be afraid to change your mind. Doing so will always keep you in tune with God’s will.

Tweetable: Are you letting God change your mind?

Prayer: Father, guide us to renew our minds daily so we never miss Your best for us or walk onto sinful paths. 

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Thinking God’s Thoughts - Martin Wiles

When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—the moon and the stars you set in place—what are mere mortals that you should think about them? Psalm 8:3-4 NLT

Thinking the right thoughts makes the difference between happiness and misery.

I’ve flown in foggy conditions, watched as the pilot took the plane upward, and marveled at how blue the sky was once we got above the clouds. I’ve also lain on the ground, looked upward, and marveled at the different shapes of the clouds.

I’ve sat on mountaintops and marveled at how far I could see. Peak after peak, rising into the sky in a seemingly endless range. I’ve also perched on mountaintops when the clouds were so thick I couldn’t see the next peak. But I could see clouds dancing between the peaks and carousing through the valleys.

Nature is a marvel. The psalmist thought so too. He had been a shepherd and spent many nights looking at the expanse of stars. No city lights existed to interfere with his view. He saw planets he didn’t know existed. When he had finished marveling over God’s creation, he thought of how small he appeared. What was he that God would even think about him?

But God did think a lot of humanity. So much so that He made them a little lower than Himself and the angels. He created them in His image. While we aren’t a carbon copy of God, we are more like Him than we are like plants and animals. We can think, reason, feel, and control our actions.

Sin spoiled God’s purpose for humanity. He knew we would sin before He created us, but His desire for relationship was worth the risk. He had another plan. Although Satan would think he had won, God’s plan was far superior to Satan’s. God would allow His only Son to pay our sin debt.

Accepting what Christ has done for me allows me to think God’s thoughts about me and leads to a radical change in my emotional conception of myself and others. God’s image in me is reborn. God works in my daily affairs to make me more like His Son in actions and words. I am no longer under His condemnation. Christ has set me free. God the Father sees me clothed in His Son’s righteousness. He sends His Spirit to continually indwell my life, and I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Think the same thoughts about yourself that God thinks. Doing so will change your life’s outlook.

Tweetable: Are you thinking God's thoughts?

Prayer: Father, may our thoughts about ourselves mirror Your’s and prompt us to be the people You formed us to be. 

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Throwback Tuesday - Martin Wiles

Thinking God’s Thoughts

At nine years of age, my father took me into his office and explained a better way. After all, I was a sinner who needed saving. “Have you ever lied to your mom or me?” Or his infamous one, “You know when you sass (his favorite word) us? That’s a sin too.” 

From a sordid introduction, he scurried to a respectable solution…“God sent his Son to die for your sins…” then to the sinner’s prayer. The prayer worked well until the cringing fingers of peer pressure began clawing at my otherwise moral fiber. For nine years, lying and sassing were among my tamer sins. Questions penetrated the hard shell of my rebellion. Was I an alcoholic, or just someone who drank? An addict or merely someone who used occasionally? A criminal or simply someone who sporadically broke a few laws? More importantly, a rebellious child of God or not one at all? Was I defined by what I did or whose I was? Read more...

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