“For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more” (Hebrews 8:12).

The only ones who remember our sins after God has forgiven us is the devil and us. Because the devil knows that we continue to remember our sins even after we have confessed them and received God’s forgiveness, the devil uses that against us. The devil does this by telling us a lie.

God declares, “Forgiven.”

The devil declares, “I know who you really are. You can’t fool me. You know you are a sinner…and a repeat sinner at that!”

Listen to God. He declares, “I will remember their sins no more.” In fact, God tells us in Psalm 103:12, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”

When God forgives our sins, God actively is engaged in removing, tossing, throwing, taking away our sins as far as the east is from the west. That’s the reason why God remembers our sins no more.

This is the only hope for repeat sinners like me, and you. When God forgives our sins, they are remembered no more. So when the devil wants to tell us his lies, you respond to the devil with the truth of God’s words.

We are forgiven. God remembers our sins no more.

“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord” (Acts 3:19).

That times of refreshing may come from the Lord…

Wow. That sounds so good. I want that. I long for that…times of refreshing from the Lord.

How do we get there? How do we make the times of refreshing from the Lord a reality in our lives? The pathway to times of refreshing is paved through repentance and turning away from a life of sin and turning to God.

One of the confusions of our modern culture and Christianity is that people want all of God’s forgiveness without God’s holiness. The cross of Jesus wasn’t about accepting our lifestyle as it is. It is about transforming our lives.

In John 8, the teachers of the law and the Pharisees bring before Jesus a woman caught in the act of adultery. The teachers of the law and Pharisees declare that the Law of Moses demands that such a woman be stoned to death, and they ask Jesus what he thinks about that. Jesus said, “Let any of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7). And, of course, no one does.

After everyone has departed, imagine if Jesus told the woman, “Hey, go back and keep doing what you’ve been doing? Keep doing you? Do what makes you happy. That’s what God wants – you to be happy. Let’s celebrate you!!!”

That would be ludicrous.

Over and over again, you will find Jesus declare, “You are forgiven. Now, go and sin no more.”

That times of refreshing may come from the Lord…

How do we get there? Through repentance and turning away from sin. That’s how we are transformed.

“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:25).

Why is more never enough?

Why is it the the more we have, the more we realize what we don’t have.

I remember as a college student looking at people who made $40K a year and thinking, “Man! They are rich!”

But when I hit the $40K mark, I didn’t feel rich at all. In fact, I felt pretty poor compared to all the people making way more than me. I was living in an apartment with my wife and two kids while almost everyone I knew owned their own homes. We were driving around in beat up old cars while almost everyone we knew drove around in their fancy new cars. We were working on beat up, hand me down computers while everyone seemed to have the newest and fanciest laptops.

Here’s the thing – I bet people making $300K, $500K, $1Mil feel the same way.

It never stops.

The reason for this is what I call the poverty of wealth. Because our focus is always on what we don’t have rather than what we do have, we have a never quenching need for more.

Only when we begin to focus on what we actually have, can we think about how to make the best use and enjoy what we do have.

Either the stuff will enslave us, or we will use our stuff as tools to make life better for us and for the people around us.

This is a whole lot easier said than lived. That’s the reason why Jesus said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into heaven.”

Don’t get sucked in by the poverty of wealth. Wealth is only a blessing when we see it as a tool to make life better for ourselves and others.