Remember everything; forgive nothing

So reads the tagline for the final Bourne film. In the pursual of justice, Bourne must remember all the offences committed against him, and punish the perpetrators.

This makes me think about God's justice.

"all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23) - by rights I stand condemned. God knows everything about me, and is under no obligation to forgive me. In fact, in order to be just, He must punish me.

But praise God, He has made a way to be just AND to forgive me, in Jesus. God punished Jesus for my sin, so that now I am righteous in His sight.

In Christ, God remembers nothing and forgives everything!

He says "I am he who blots out your trangressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins" (Isaiah 43). Because my sin was dealt with on the cross, God will not punish me.

David wrote in the psalms "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin" (Psalm 32).

This is a revolutionary kind of justice that the world cannot comprehend. An innocent man (God Himself made flesh) is punished as if He had committed my sins, and I go free. Now God chooses not to remember my sin, but to give me Christ's righteousness. This is the greatest kind of justice, where God satisfies His anger at my sin on the cross, and I experience His grace and mercy, and eternity in His presence!

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" 1 Peter 1