Galatians 5:1
“Let me be clear, the Anointed One has set us free—not partially, but completely and wonderfully free! We must always cherish this truth and stubbornly refuse to go back into the bondage of our past.”

I was trying to find an email this morning that I received a few days ago. It had required a response from me but I hadn’t had time before hurrying out to an appointment.
Eventually I found the email in my ‘recycle bin’. In my haste the other day I must have deleted the email. As I started to read though it, I remembered ….. actually I hadn’t deleted by mistake, it had been deliberate. The email was one of those spammy sort that had somehow slipped through, dressed up as something official looking.
Now, as you know when we delete emails on our laptops or tablets, rather than disappearing forever into the ether, they go into a recycle bin.

On most programs the file remains there. This can be for a set period – weeks or months – before it is automatically permanently deleted, and in that period the the owner of the laptop can change their mind and ‘un-delete’ these files at any time. Alternatively, you can also choose “select all” and permanently delete all the files in your recycle bin.
When you delete unwanted emails and they have gone into your recycle bin, you might think they have gone, but they haven’t really, have they? They’re still there, they’re just hidden. They can be retrieved any time you like.

This reminded me of something ….

Our Sin Has Been Permanently Deleted
So many Christians struggle with the concept of forgiveness. I’m not talking about forgiving others, I’m talking about the fact that God has forgiven you. Completely. If you have confessed your sin to God, whatever it may be, He has forgiven you. 1 John 1:9
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”

God does not have a recycle bin, your sin has been permanently deleted.

Yet still, we live as though our Father had a recycle bin. We rehash our old sins, returning them time and time again to the ‘inbox’ of our minds. Hurting ourselves and as a result, others, with our regrets as we beat ourselves for sin that has been long since forgiven.

We want to forgive those people who have hurt us; we say we have, but then every once in a while that ‘hurt button’ gets pressed and we return that old hurt to the inbox and scrutinise it again. “I can’t believe she did that to me!”

As God has forgiven us so completely, we too can afford to – no for our own sake, need to – forgive others, once and for all.
Psalm 103:12
“as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”

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

Hebrews 10:17 “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”

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

Many, many Christians are walking around with the recycle bins of their own minds and hearts full. ‘I wish I hadn’t done that’. ‘I can’t forgive that person’.
As on my laptop, these files are invisible but still there, hidden, weighing you down. Everything looks perfectly normal from the outside but eventually, if that recycle bin is not cleared, once and for all and those files permanently deleted, a bit like a computer, we can’t function to full capacity.

It’s time to clear the recycle bin, because that folder, that space where we tend to store up all our past sins and regrets is of our own making, it is not the heart of our Father God.

Jill 💜

PS: Below is a necklace from my Etsy shop Miss Maisie’s Wee Shop. I think the necklace fits quite well with the theme of this particular blog post 🙂 It’s based on Galatians 5:1 and has been hand engraved with the scripture reference and the words “Set free living free”

For more information or to purchase just click the link under the photo.