Dave Wickersham was pitching for Detroit, and he had 19 victories for the season. One more would be a sign of stardom. But it wasn’t to be.

After a close play, Wickersham tapped the umpire on the shoulder to ask for a time-out. Touching an umpire is against the rules, so Valentine tossed Wickersham from the game – depriving him of his chance for a 20-win season.

For the next 39 years, Valentine lived with a gnawing regret for booting the pitcher in that split-second decision. But he doesn’t carry that regret anymore. In 2002 Wickersham wrote the umpire a note, telling him he was right in his decision and that he held no hard feelings. That note lifted a weight from Valentine’s shoulders.

In Genesis 45, Joseph lifted a burden of guilt from his brothers, who had sold him into slavery – something far more serious than a simple misunderstanding. Yet he was willing to forgive them. Are you?

A couple of weeks later we were passing by that spot and decided to dig it up and see how it was doing. We meant well, but learned a valuable lesson. We were more concerned about what we would see than what we would smell. It didn’t take us long to get that cat re interred and never went back again.

That was a gruesome experience for us boys. But the lesson was simple: once you’ve buried something, let it lie. Digging it up from time to time just doesn’t help. And so it is with our sins. When they are buried, we must let them lie. Digging them up again only brings up what once was there. Leave the cat buried!

There is no question that infidelity is wrong. But without forgiveness,bitterness is all that’s left! There comes a point at which anger is no longer just an emotion – its a driving force. Like cocaine, you need larger and more frequent doses. Once that happens, you move even further from forgiveness, because without your anger you’ve no source of energy at all. It’s what drives hate groups like the KKK and the Skinheads.

God says, “Forgive anyone who does you wrong…as Christ has forgiven you” (Colossians 3:13), because bitterness is fatal.

The people of the West could have retaliated, but instead dumped a truckload of valuable food supplies over onto the East Berlin side. Above it they placed a sign: ‘EACH GIVES WHAT HE HAS’.

What do you have to give your enemy? Bitterness and resentment, or grace and blessing. The choice will be determined by what’s really in our heart. Think about it.

We cannot undo the past. We cannot change what has happened to us. But we do not have to allow past abuses to be continual abuses. We can take the hurt and memories and give them to God, never to allow them to control us. We can fight a good fight against Satan by not permitting him to do any further damage to our soul. I am free! Release it to God.

The next day the little girl saw the pieces in the trash can. She took them out and again went to her motehr and said: “Mommy, yesterday I broke this cup. Please forgive me.”

“Leave those pieces in the trash can and only remmeber the forgiveness,” her mother said.

Are we not like the little girl sometimes? We ask God for forgiveness again and again for the same sin. We keep dregging up memories of it, but God doesn’t.

We are guilty! God knows it. What penalty does that deserve? The death penalty? Jesus paid it. What more can he do? Which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’, or ‘Take up your bed and walk’? Since you’ve already been forgiven, pick up your bed and start walking like Christ!

Even though he had been innocent all along, Zimmerman couldn’t escape the stigma of being an ex-convict. What few jobs he could get soon ended when employers learned that he had served time. His record was cleared, but society did not fully accept him.

What a striking contrast to our standing with God when we trust Jesus as our Savior! We are guilty. Yet on the merits of Jesus’ sinless life and atoning sacrifice, we are not only declared righteous, but we are fully restored to favor with our heavenly Father.

“Having been justified by His grace, we [have] become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:7).

John Plummer was an American who, in the heat of wartime, almost killed her. She was Vietnamese, and when the napalm started to fall from his plane, she ran for her life.

According to a story in the Minnesota Christian Chronicle, Kim Phuc was invited to Washington in 1996 to speak at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. As she spoke, she said she would forgive the pilot if they were to meet.

Incredibly, John Plummer was in the audience. He had heard that Kim would be there, so be came to hear her speak. After the ceremony, the two met. Plummer repeated, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Kim replied, “It’s all right. I forgive.”

“Even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do” (Colossians 3:13).

“In some strange way,” he said, “my right hand started off in F-sharp major while my left hand behaved well in F major. I could not bring them together. I went through the entire nocturne with the hands separated by a half-step.”

The next day, someone walked up to him and jokingly commented, “You never missed a wrong note!”

Have you ever felt that way about your Christian life? You want to live for God and please Him, but some days it seems that you “never miss a wrong note.” You feel like such a failure. You may have even asked, “How can God care about a sinner like me?”

The Psalmist declares, “Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He teaches sinners in the way. The humble He guides in justice, and the humble He teaches His way” (Psalm 25:8-9).

Think about it. The idea that God forgets my sins isn’t very reassuring. After all, what if He suddenly remembered? In any case, only someone imperfect can forget, and God is perfect.

The Bible says, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Hebrews 8:12). God doesn’t say He will forget our sins – He says He will remember them no more! His promise not to remember them ever again is stronger than saying He’ll forget them. Now that reassures me!