One of the most comforting and thrilling verses in all of the Bible is the prophecy that Jeremiah foresaw in the coming new covenant and which was highlighted as a reality for Christians in the book of Hebrews, when God says, “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Heb. 8:12). When God forgives us, He presses “Delete” and does not remember or hold it against us any longer.
Are we supposed to do the same? We are commanded to forgive one another, “just as God in Christ forgave you” (Eph. 4:32). He is our standard and our model. And when we truly have the love of God in us for others, we will “not take into account a wrong suffered” (1 Cor. 13:5, NASB) or keep a “record of wrongs” (NIV). When I forgive someone, God does not want me to hang on to their record, tally it up and hold it against them. He wants me to love them as Jesus has loved me (John 13:34-35), which means I must press “Delete” and lovingly move on.