“For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
– Jeremiah 31:34

Let us not confuse God’s forgiveness with the world’s forgiveness. When I forgive my friend, I don’t hold the sin against him; I don’t hold grudges; I treat him no differently than if he hadn't sinned against me. When God forgives us, he does something radically different. I don’t hold anything against my friend because I choose not to look on the sin; God doesn’t hold anything against us because there’s nothing to hold against us. He erases our sins, blots it out of history! By his miraculous power, he changes the past – that sin we committed never happened! It is unfathomable; we are made holy and perfect not by our own actions, but God’s. Since our sin no longer exists, why should we keep looking back on it? Why should we feel guilty or ashamed? Satan will try to use our sins against us, convincing us that our sin is too great for us to love God and be loved by God. Don’t listen to his lies – your sin no longer exists. You are perfect.