Forgiving and Forgetting – Sunday, November 08, 1959
Last week we cited this sentence: “Make an enemy, and you see him everywhere,”1—and suggested the wisdom of settling differences before sundown. We often hear the phrase, “Forgive and forget”—but may sometimes forget how much “forgetting” is a part of “forgiving.”
There is no one who does not sometime need to be forgiven. But saying we forgive is so much easier than actually forgetting. And if continually we remind a man of all his past mistakes, it is likely that we haven’t fully forgiven. People cannot live together in happiness until their differences are settled.
And differences are not settled so long as they are bitterly remembered. Of course, the offender has some obligations also, and if sincere forgiveness is expected, sincere repentance is also expected. But people can’t move forward on a new and sound footing if the stumbling blocks of the past are always placed in the path. We have it on good authority that he who expects forgiveness must be forgiving: For “if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”2
If ever and always we hold before us the picture of former offenses, if the way is always marred with old marks, there isn’t much chance for unfettering the future. It isn’t always easy to forgive, and it is still more difficult to forget, but if there be those who have past grievances and who want to walk together again, they will have to remember that there is much to forget as well as to say that they forgive.
They who would find a new footing of faith and confidence and understanding must learn to leave some things behind, and endeavor both to forgive and forget—not forgetting that repentance also is an essential part of the process. *
* Revised
1 Source unknown
2 Matthew 6:15
November 08, 1959
Broadcast Number 1,577