One day a couple of years ago, I received a letter in the mail. This letter was from the company that emptied our kerbside recycling bin every fortnight. It wasn’t a letter congratulating me on the fine effort I was making in being a responsible global citizen and recycling my plastics and papers.
No. This was a letter outlining a series of repeated transgressions I had supposedly committed with some of the contents I had placed in the recycling bin.
It pointed to a specific recent date, where a plastic bag had been found among the contents of my recycling bin. It then went on to mention two other specific dates where they had again found plastic bags amongst the contents. This was a no-no in the eyes of the recycling company.
The letter continued on, describing some of the measures this company had taken to try to rectify my behaviour previously. They had sent out educational material to help me change my ways. They had even offered their services to assist in this process. Now for the record, I don’t remember receiving any of this. Chances are, it ended up with all my other paperwork I didn’t need - in the recycling bin.
The letter then came to a sobering conclusion with this warning: if I continued in my sinful ways, for a period of time they would remove my rights to having a recycling-pickup service at my address, and would also require me to sign a contract agreeing to their terms of recycling before they would reinstate the service.
Wow! After receiving this letter from the recycling company, I felt accused, reprimanded, and condemned.
We have an adversary, the devil, who loves to do just that with our faults and failings. He loves to remind us of our past mistakes and sins. He loves to get us focused on times when we have messed up and how we often fall short of God’s purposes for our lives.
Revelations 12:10 even goes as far as to describe him as the ‘Accuser of the Brethren.’
If he can get us feeling condemned and discouraged, and make us feel like even God would not be happy with our past (or even current) behavior, then he has succeeded in eroding our confidence before God, and limiting our effectiveness in living for Him.
But how does God really see you? What does God do with your past failings and mistakes? Does He look at you through the lens of your past sins and transgressions? Or does the bible say something different about how He deals with them?
Let’s unpack this a bit more.
When a person first places their faith in Jesus, they receive forgiveness of sins.
“In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.”
— Ephesians 1:7
This is a reality for anyone who places their faith in Christ.
Yet anyone who has walked this planet for any length of time, and who desires to live in a way that’s pleasing to God also understands this reality:
That as much as we want to do what is right, that as much as we want to live above the weaknesses and frailties of our humanity, that as much as we want to live beyond the reach of the vices and temptations that pull for our time and affection and attention - as much as we want to live like that…
We stumble. We make mistakes. We fall short of a life that is pleasing to God.
We sin.
Yet I think God knew this was going to be a struggle we all face because He made provision for this - for us to be able to access His forgiveness.
Let’s look at His promise written to believers:
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
— 1 John 1:9
There are two parts to this.
Our part - we confess our sins.
His part - forgiveness and cleansing.
Let’s look at another verse which further explains how this happens:
“I am writing this to you, my children, so that you will not sin; but if anyone does sin, we have someone who pleads with the Father on our behalf—Jesus Christ, the righteous one. 2 And Christ himself is the means by which our sins are forgiven, and not our sins only, but also the sins of everyone.”
— 1 John 2:1-2
This is good news for us! Jesus through His death on the cross, took your sin and my sin on Himself. So when we fail and sin, we have Jesus, our representative before God who says to the Father, ‘You see their sin? I took care of that on the cross. Here is the record of my sinless perfection, my righteousness - I want to apply that to their account!’
What does God do with your sin?
When you confess it, He forgives you.
What else does God do with your sins? Let’s keep looking in scripture.
“Who is a God like you,
who pardons sin and forgives the transgression.
You will tread our sins underfoot
and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.”
— Micah 7:18-19
Here we read that God treads our sins underfoot, and hurls them into the depths of the sea.
I love what Corrie Ten Boom, the Dutch missionary and author said about this verse.
“God buries our sins in the depths of the sea and then puts up a sign that reads, “No fishing.” ”
— Corrie Ten Boom
No fishing. No going back over what has been done and living in regret and shame because of it. God has hurled our iniquities into the depths of the sea. Let’s leave them there.
Here’s the next promise:
““This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds.”
Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.””
— Hebrews 10:16-17
He remembers our sins no more. He doesn’t keep a record of our past mistakes and failures but has made the decision to not remember them.
Unlike my recycling company! When I received the letter from them outlining my failings, I picked up the phone and gave them a call.
A lady answered the phone. After politely introducing myself and explaining the situation of the letter and its contents, I asked this question.
“I’m curious, how long do you keep a record of my wrongdoings before you wipe the slate clean?” She replied, ‘12 Months.’
12 Months, I exclaimed!
“So you mean to tell me,” I said. “That when it comes to my recycling, I have to live with a perfect record for the next 12 months, for my history of past transgressions to be removed?”
“Yes sir, that is correct.” she replied.
Aren't you glad that God doesn’t treat you like that? Aren’t you glad that He doesn’t keep a record of your past mistakes and failures? Aren’t you glad that He doesn’t point back to a time in your life - “I remember back in 1987, when you messed up. I remember, Back in 2003 - you were a very naughty boy.….oh those 2010’s - you were living real wild! I remember real good…!
No - instead He says this - Your sins, your lawless acts - I will remember no more!!
Now to be fair to the company that picks up my recycling, I understand their job and their perspective. My plastic bags were not good for their machinery.
And the lady on the phone was very polite and gracious.
In fact, she said that, because I had called, she would wipe my slate clean right away and I wouldn’t have a record of wrong-doing against my name.
I was very thankful. And I thought, “Lady, you are so much like God. You remember my sins no more!”
What’s something else that does God do with our sins?
“In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back.”
— Isaiah 38:17
In this verse it says that He puts them behind his back. How about this one.
“As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
— Psalm 103:12
He removes them as far as the east is from the west.
Having read all these scriptures which talk about what God does with our sins, we need to ask this question. And this is a really important question.
When it comes to our sins, how do we think about them? When we have confessed our sins to God, how do we then think about them?
Because in light of the scriptural truth we have just read, we are led to this conclusion:
“I have no right to think any differently about my sin than God does.”
If, after I have confessed my sins, God says He remembers them no more, Then I have no right to keep rehashing them in my mind, and allowing myself to feel condemned and unworthy.
If God says that He has cast them into the depths of the sea, then I have no right to drag them back up and tie them around my neck like an anchor weighing me down.
If God says He has removed them from me, as far as the east is from the west, then I have no right to pull the memory of them back in close and allow it to impact the direction I take in life.
If God says He has put my sins behind His back, I have no right to keep them before my eyes.
“When you confess your sin, God deals with them in a way that is permanent. He says they are gone, removed, forgotten and that you are forgiven! ”
Today let’s bask in the truth of God’s word about our sin. It is good news that will set us free and increase our confidence before God.
Interested in reading the actual letter from the recycling company? Click here to view it!