“Then he adds, I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”

Verse seventeen is a result of the previous verses. Once a person accepts the conditions of the new covenant and has them written on his or her heart or mind their sins, and lawless deeds are forgiven. Under the old covenant, a remembrance was made of sin every single day and year. The provisions of the old covenant were not sufficient to remove sin permanently. The provisions of the new were. The words of Jeremiah have to do with consideration rather than simple memory. This promise of not remembering shouldn’t be taken in the sense that God wiped His memory clean. It should be taken in the sense that the sins would not be taken into consideration ever again. Once washed clean in the blood of Jesus, those sins no longer count against the believer.

We should try to emulate God in this regard. You will probably not forget all the sins of your lifetime, and some will be almost impossible to forget, but you should not live as if those sins were still against you. In that sense, they don’t need to be remembered. Their consequence no longer exists.

Task for Today: Believe that if you are in Christ, Jesus, your sins are forgiven permanently. You may remember them, but keep in mind that God is not choosing to bring them up again. He took them far away. He no longer considers your sins because they are forever washed away in the blood of the Lamb.