Thought for the Month - June 2015

"Our Right to be Forgotten" by Barry Adair

Maybe it is just me, but these days it seems that our 'rights' are evermore to the fore. We have our human rights, our consumer rights, rights to live how we please and even our rights to be forgotten. It is the last one which I want to dwell on briefly this month.

This "right to be forgotten" is relatively new. It was granted mainly due to the Internet and in particular due to Google internet search. Even though someone has broken the law, including very serious crimes such as terrorism, paedophilia and murder, that person can now demand that the digital record of this misdemeanour be wiped clean!

Now, as a Christian, I am a big believer of changed lives. A life reborn by the Spirit of God is a wonderful thing to behold. For those of us who are saved through the shed blood of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, I can tell you on the authority of the Scriptures that our sins have been wiped clean.

For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. (Heb 8:12)

Any yet, sin does have its consequences. I have a friend who murdered two people many years ago during "the Troubles" here in Northern Ireland. He tells me that every single day he remembers what he did. As a born again Christian he knows God has forgiven him but forgiving himself is a different matter! He would never ask for that record to be removed from public record. He did the crime and he did his time. Through his time in jail and with only a Bible allowed in his cell at that time, he discovered that Jesus paid the price for sin in all of our lives, including his own vile crimes. With humble repentance, he asked God to forgive him and he has lived as a 'new creation' since that day. Like he says, he still sins daily but knows that He will be accepted into Heaven through Jesus' sacrifice and only through that.

All of us will give an account of our lives to our Creator, including those who have demanded that their vile crimes be deleted from the Internet!

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment (Heb 9:27)

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. (Rev 20:12)

That record of our lives will be totally truthful, error free and we will have no cause to reject any of it.

In God's eyes, there is no such right as your "right to be forgotten". But by His grace, our sins and failings can be removed and remembered no more…

As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:12)

Trust Jesus for your salvation.
Have your sins wiped clean… past, present and future!

Until next month (dv)…

Are you SURE that you have your place booked in Heaven? Read this if you're not!