Forgiven Not Forgotten

I often find myself amazed by the grace that God has shown me in my short lifetime. There is so much that He has done for me that is totally and completely unmerited on my part. It is hard to imagine that He has done all that He has indeed done for me simply because He loves me and wants to be in communion with me. Like the story of the prodigal son, I was the one that was spiritually living with the pigs and wallowing in their pen. When my heart was moved to return to my father, He didn’t lecture me on my wrongs, but He received me into His house with a celebration.

The story of Philemon and Onesimus has grace as one of its themes. If it can be seen anywhere it can be seen in verse 16, “no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother-especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.” In his letter to Philemon, Paul writes how great it is to be able to receive Onesimus back into his household. For he will not only be a trustworthy servant and someone Philemon can rely on, but he now is also a fellow brother in Christ. When we accept the grace of God in our lives we start to evidence a change in our life. We no longer are bound by the pressure of sin and death but rather we are set free through grace and life.

Grace is life lived through freedom. We celebrate and cherish this freedom because we have done nothing to deserve it. This celebration of grace turns into worship to the one who granted us this grace that we did not deserve. We realize just how powerful this grace is. The bible says that as we realize just how sinful we truly are, that the grace in our lives expands that much more to cover that sin. As we realize just how precious this grace is, how much we are loved, we realize just how much He is truly worthy of our praise and our worship.

A final thought on this verse. Philemon didn’t receive Onesimus into his household with a barrage of questions on his sin and his activities since he had been gone. Neither did the God who bestowed His grace on us challenge our worthiness of His love and mercy. In both instances the person giving the grace forgave, forgot and received the other person into the family. I imagine that the person who was being given grace was thankful for the forgiveness but never forgot what they had done before it was given. Not because they were bound by guilt but rather because they never wanted to forget just how precious the gift of grace was in their lives. When we have the opportunity to extend grace, let’s remember the forgive and forget principle shown to us by God. When we are the one who grace has been extended to, let’s remember the forgiven but never forget principle so we never forget the power of the gift given to us.

Father I thank you for the grace that you have extended to me though I did not deserve it. I pray that when I have the opportunity to extend grace I will do so, just as You did with no strings attached. Amen.