Forgive and Forget

There is a story in the book Exclusion and Embrace by Miroslav Volf that tells of a Muslim woman. She was a teacher in Yugoslavia when the civil war started. She recounts of times in which she was beaten by former students and colleagues because she was a Muslim. In fact, she tells that one student urinated in her mouth mocking, "That is all you are good for you stinking Muslim." The woman's hate grew. So much so that years later she named her son Jihad which means revenge. She told her child, "May this milk choke you if you ever forget." She dedicated her son to violence and hatred. She would not forgive her attackers. Conversely, she chose to remember the wrongs done to her.
You have heard that it is said, "forgive and forget." And I tell you the truth, if we do not aim to forget the wrongs done to us, then forgiveness is not complete. This is a risky statement, especially for desiring for this woman to forgive her attackers. Yet, I think this is the desire of Jesus and Paul. Paul says frequently, "Forgive others as Christ has forgiven you" (Col. 3:13). Furthermore, I think that forgiveness is only perfected in forgetting.
Since God's forgiveness is our modus operandi for our forgiveness I find it necessary to remember the extent of God's forgiveness. Has it not been written, "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us" (Psalm 103:12). Or in another place, "You will have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl our iniquities into the depths of the sea" (Micah 7:19). Or in another place, "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more" (Jer. 31:34).
What would it take for us to separate the sin from the sinner as far as the east is from the west? It requires nothing less than forgetting. Forgetting the sin and leaving ourselves open to be hurt again. Does the Lord not do this for us? Even as we continue to sin (but do not use this as an excuse to sin). Let us not be bound to grudges by our memories of sins long past and enter a forgiveness that is true to the nature of God. My point is simple: forgive and forget.