START FORGETTING TODAY

A good "forgettory" is as important as a good memory. For the
most part, we tend to remember the happy occasions of life.
Memory - consciously and unconsciously - tries to bury the
painful experiences of life. But sometimes the memories won't go
away. At those times, trying to forget isn't enough.
An obsession with disappointments or failures is like touching a
door that is wet with red paint. By visiting and remembering your
failures, you are staining the present with the memories of the
past.
How to forget:
* Make everything right that needs to be made right. Face known
sin, deal with it, and repent. Repentance and restitution
begin the forgetting process. It is difficult to forget
wrongs until they are made right. An accusing conscience
keeps memory frightfully alive.
* Read and pray Psalm 51. Wash me...from my iniquity. Purge me
with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be
whiter than snow. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and
renew a steadfast spirit within me. Restore to me the joy of
Your salvation. David's life was not free from sin, yet he
was called a man after God's own heart because of his
wholehearted repentance. Upon receiving God's forgiveness,
you can forget the things that are behind (Phil. 3:13).
* Reverse the process of memory. Memory is helped by
repetition. Therefore, you cannot spend time reliving your
past and still forget. You may sincerely repent and forsake
your sins and yet continually revisit them. In moments of
defeat, you may even encourage and relish those memories.
This process makes forgetting difficult. Most painful
experiences in life beg to be forgotten. In learning to
forget, you should work with nature, rather than against it.
* Displace the thoughts of past sin with greater thoughts of
God's unlimited grace. In contemplating the cross of Jesus
and His sacrificial death, you experience powerful,
life-changing grace. God's love is greater than anything and
everything you have done or failed to do. God completely
forgives you when you come to Him in repentance and faith. As
far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our
transgressions from us (Ps. 103:12; Is. 44:22, Micah 7:19).
Scripture promises that when God forgives, He also forgets.
Their sin I will remember no more (Jer. 31:34). Since God
forgives and forgets...who are you to remember?

Dr. George Sweeting is former president and current
chancellor of the Moody Bible Institute. He has
written numerous books, including Who Said That?, How
to Begin the Christian Life, and How to Continue the
Christian Life, and is the author of the popular
monthly column, "Climbing Higher," in Moody magazine.

From Too Soon To Quit by George Sweeting, copyright
(c) 1999. Used by permission of Moody Press, Chicago, Ill. 1-800-678-6928