Only a few days separated Jesus from being hailed as King...people showering him with praise and then being hailed as heretic…deserving of nothing but death.
It makes me think of the difference between most any Sunday...where thousands join to praise Him...and then by Friday night...for some...He is no longer hailed as the hope of the world but instead...He simply becomes....inconvienent...His words forgotten…forgive…do good to those that hurt you…give to receive…serve to lead…die to live…take up your cross…daily...His words...uncomfortable...unwanted...a choice is made...His words are silenced...put to death...anything to stop those words.

On Palm Sunday we remember when Jesus road a donkey into the city of Jerusalem. The people laid palm leaves in front of Him and shouted hosanna. The stories of His miracles were being told and retold. Many thought that He was going to be their earthly king…they thought He would use His amazing powers to take over Jerusalem…to free them from Roman rule.

As what He was really about began to be realized...the excitement wore off...the party died down. He had not taken over the city but instead had been taken prisoner. He was not bringing down the Roman government…He was submitting to them…His words began to ring in their ears…forgive…do good to those that hurt you…give to receive…serve to lead…die to live…take up our cross…daily…this was not the kind of king they wanted…so they chose...silence those words…death.

While we celebrate this Holy week…His grand entrance…His ultimate death and resurrection…it’s a good time to rethink this...because …in a strange, powerful, relentless, and yet humble way....He is still arriving everyday...you will not see Him on a donkey...riding into your city...you will...instead...hear His footsteps as they approach the door of your heart...you will...remember the things He has said...forgive...do good to those that hurt you...give to receive...serve to lead...die to live...you will…make a choice...to take up your cross...or...to pick up some nails.

God Forgets

“Just got a new life…but I can’t shake the old”
(Danny Painter and Meggie Wiggins)

Your sins are forgotten...I can’t even wrap my mind around that.

God said this to the children of Israel after a time of doing just about everything opposite of what He had taught, ask, and commanded them to do. "Forgotten"…when I read this recently, I kept saying it out loud over and over…forgotten…forgotten…forgotten. I know He forgives and have been taught my whole life that he forgets…he tosses my sins as far as the east is from the west…but really…forgotten?

I don’t know how that works because I am certainly not built that way. I have an ever present always running video in my brain that is always showing my life’s greatest stupid moments. All those things I wish I had never said…all those things I wish I had never done. After a lot of practice and determination I am better at not allowing that video to play…but forget…totally forget…not happening.

Gods’ ability to see me as whole and complete and pure is completely beyond me. He is not stuck in my past regardless of how ugly I or anyone else thinks it might be. That He has completely forgotten the sins that are haunting my memory is almost impossible for me to bring to a place of reality in my mind. But just like so many other things, when it comes to God, I don’t have to get it for it to be true.
I mean I don’t even understand some of the most basic things in life. For instance, I don’t understand how millions of cell phones can be sending signals to other cell phones all over the world at the same time. With all those voices traveling through the air; how come I don’t hear any of them? I don’t understand how the average teenager can play a video game online, text his true love on his cell phone, chat with other friends on his computer, listen to blaringly loud music on the same computer, and do his homework. But it happens everyday! I don’t get gravity, can’t comprehend the true size and depth of the Atlantic, or how my socks can still disappear when I am living alone! So how much more difficult the mysteries of God…the creator of the universe! But I know that God forgives and forgets…because He supplies me with just enough faith to know. Thankfully, complete comprehension of this is not a prerequisite. He just loves me and continues to allow me to live in this river of continual grace and forgiveness.

The crazy thing is that if I did forget everything then I would do some of those regrettable things again. I need some of that stuff to come up at the right times to keep me from repeating my own history. He allows these memories to become warning signs…in some instances warning billboards…to help keep me on the right track. So I am thankful for that. It’s the guilt thing that gets to me. When they hang heavy over my heart and tell me that I can do no better…that’s when I need the awareness of how God sees it. And the beauty is...He doesn’t. He forgot it…remember?