The Delete Button

Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a delete button to use in this life?  Think about it.  It would be great, a powerful tool at our disposal.  Just imagine that you could say “delete” and the circumstance, situation, mistake, or disappointment is gone.  It’s out of there.  Accident – deleted.  Work problems – vanished.  Broken heart – disappeared.   A delete button could do wonders for producing peace in our lives.  But we, as we seem to have a tendency to do, would probably go too far in deleting things.  For instance, I would delete the kid who kept kicking my seat on the airplane?  That kid deserves the delete button in my annoyed opinion.  But no.  It wouldn’t be right.  The delete button must be used for good.  It should not be used to satisfy our every whim or to zap people who irritate us. 

Instead, the delete button would be better used to wipe out memories of our mistakes, failures and disappointments.  These are the things that hold us back limiting our potential.  We can’t afford to live lives filled with regrets.  If we turn to and trust God, we actually grow significantly in times of great hardship, disappointment and failure.  We mature and learn more about ourselves and our need for our Savior.  We sometimes need difficulties to push us deeper in our relationship with the Lord, but the lingering memories – DELETE! We should want the memories that hold us back, make us insecure or feel unworthy GONE. 

God has the best delete button of all.  He tells us that we can confess our sins to Him and He will forgive them and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).  He says He will separate us from our sins as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:11-12).  He goes further and tells us He will wipe them from His memory (in other words – delete). 

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

Do not let the past hold you back.  Forget about it!  God has.

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead (Philippians 3:13 ESV).

Delete and Move Forward!