“You are a hypocrite!”
Have you ever been called a hypocrite in your life? I mean, I never experienced it until this blog. I was called mean and flat-nosed and chubby, and all three have been equally annoying, but being labeled a hypocrite was a first. My initial instinct was to get angry or try to draw out a long list of people who probably didn’t like me, people whom I’ve hurt in the past, or people who just doesn’t understand my nature.
I was about to feel bad about what was said about me when I remembered Hebrews 8:12: “I will remember their sins no more.”
He forgets. He forgets that I was once a gossiper, that I got involved in bad relationships. He forgets that I lied, cursed, sinned, and hurt Him. He remembers everything about me --- the number of hairs on my head, the number of stars in the sky, the name of my 2nd grade English teacher, the boy who pushed me on the playground when I was six. He remembers everything and can do everything, but there is one thing that He refuses to do, and that is to keep tabs of the times that I hurt Him. Whenever I stumble into sin, He doesn't say, "well, that's the 47th time Barbie did that."
God refuses to remember.
To the person who called me a hypocrite: Maybe I was. In some ways to others, maybe I still am. But I refuse to be affected by it. In fact, I have been made stronger by those words. I was called a hypocrite because there has probably been an obvious change in my life, something that "wasn't in my old personality", something that didn't seem at all like me. And that’s fine. I don’t go about pleasing others anyway. It’s a task that’s easier said than done, but I have asked God to help me become steadfast in my faith, no matter what anyone says or does.
You have probably been treated the same, or even worse. You have probably been called names you could never even imagine to have been thrown at you. People like to put labels like they were canned goods at the supermarket aisle. But why should we trust them as truths? Will you let your journey be ruined by people who continue to judge you for things that God does not even remember?
God remembers your sins no more. He forgets.
And maybe you should too.
