Cancelling Debts and Cleansing Records

I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” (Isaiah 43:25)

Yesterday we talked about the importance of confessing our sins to God whenever we mess up or make a mistake. Today, I want us to focus on what happens when we confess – what God does and how He responds to our confessions.

First, when we confess our sins, God cancels our debt. Even though the New Testament was written in Greek, Jesus spoke in Aramaic. The Aramaic word for sin literally means “a debt that is owed.” The Aramaic word for “forgive” literally means, “to cancel or forget a debt.” We owe God absolute, perfect, obedience. Every time we disobey God, we run up a debt called “sin.” The amazing thing is every single time you go to God and ask God to cancel that debt, to wipe out that debt, He gladly does it.

And second, not only does God gladly cancel your debt, but He also cleanses you completely. God doesn’t just take the debt off the books. God wipes the record clean. God doesn’t just forgive our debt of sin, but He forgets it. God said through the prophet Isaiah, “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins” (Isaiah 43:25).

That doesn’t literally mean that God forgets that we’ve done something wrong. That would be impossible. God knows everything, and He has a perfect memory. When God says He forgets our sins, what it means is He does not hold our sins against us anymore. He doesn’t hold a grudge. The only way He remembers our sin is as forgiven sin. In effect, God buries our sin in the grave of His grace, and we never need to dig up what God has buried.

Dear Father, thank you for cancelling my debts and for cleansing me completely of my sin. What an undeserved blessing it is that you only see my sin as forgiven and that you wipe my record clean with the blood of Jesus. Help me to continue to confess my mistakes so that I can continuously experience your mercy and grace. In Jesus’ name, amen.