2026-04-20
Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV
The English word for new is the Hebrew word hadas. It doesn’t just mean again and again, as amazing as that would be. It’s new, as in different. It means never before experienced. Today’s mercy is different from yesterday’s mercy, or the day before that, or the day before that! Just as the seasonal flu vaccine changes from year to year, God’s mercy changes from day to day. It’s a new strain of mercy. Why? Because you didn’t sin today the way you did yesterday!
Try this little exercise: figure out how old you are – not in years but in days. Whatever number you come up with isn’t just your age in days; it doubles as the sum total of different kinds of mercy that you have received life-to-date. By the time you are twenty-one, you have experienced 7,665 unique mercies. When you hit midlife, it numbers about 14,600. And by the time you hit retirement, God has shown mercy to you about 23,725 times!
And His mercy for you is a tailored mercy that perfectly fits your sin, your shortcomings, your needs, and your mistakes. His mercy fits like a glove! In Scripture, the word manifold means “multifaceted.” Mercy and grace are not the same thing. Mercy is not getting what you do deserve, and grace is getting what you don’t deserve. The apostle Peter spoke about “the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10 NKJV). Like snowflakes, God’s grace never crystallizes the same way twice. That’s what makes it so amazing!
Soul food: Acts 10-11; Matt 3:11-17; Ps 103:13-22; Prov 10:30-32
2026-04-19
Jeremia 31:34 NLV
Die Israeliete het die Pasga as ‘n manier om hul uittog uit Egipte te herdenk, gevier. Die aand voor die uittog is die Israeliete opdrag gegee om ‘n lam sonder gebrek te offer en hul deurkosyn met sy bloed te merk. Dan, wanneer die Doodsengel deur Egipte gaan, sou hy by hul huis verbygaan.
Jesus se dissipels het nie besef dat hulle die Pasgamaaltyd saam met die Pasgalam (Jesus) eet nie. Jesus het hul begrip van die brood en die beker verander en verduidelik dat dit sy liggaam en bloed verteenwoordig. As gevolg van dit wat Hy by Golgota se kruis bereik het, leef ons onder die beskermende bewaring van die bloed van die Lam. Soos die Pasga, is die nagmaal ‘n herdenking van ons uittog uit slawerny. Ons was slawe van sonde, maar Christus het ons vrygemaak.
Wanneer ons by die Here se Tafel gaan sit, is dit soos om aan die voet van die kruis te gaan sit – die plek waar sonde sy moses teëgekom het. Ons onthou dat ons sonde aan die kruis vasgespyker is.
Sukkel jy om jou sondes en mislukkings te vergeet? Hou die duiwel aan om jou daaraan te herinner? Staan op God se Woord en beteken ‘n uitsettingsbevel op hom. God het in die Ou Testament gesê: ‘…Ek sal al hulle oortredings en hulle sondes vergewe. Ek sal nooit eers weer daaraan dink nie.’ In die Nuwe Testament het God gesê: ‘Ek sal My ontferm oor hulle ongeregtighede en Ek sal nooit weer aan hulle sondes dink nie’ (Hebreërs 8:12 NLV). Die Skrif vertel ons wat God met ons sondes doen: ‘…U sal ons sonde onder u voete vertrap, dit weggooi in die diepte van die see!’ (Miga 7:19 NLV).
Sielskos: Matt 1:18-21; Hand 3:1-16; Fil 2:9-11
Jeremiah 31:34 NKJV
The Israelites had celebrated the Passover as a way of commemorating their exodus from Egypt. The evening before the exodus, the Israelites were instructed to sacrifice a lamb without defect and to mark their doorframe with its blood. Then, when the Death Angel passed through Egypt, he would pass over their home.
Little did Jesus’s disciples know that they were eating the Passover meal with the Passover Lamb. Jesus rebooted their understanding of the bread and the cup, explaining that they represented His body and blood. And because of what He accomplished at Calvary’s cross, we come under the protective custody of the blood of the Lamb. Like the Passover, communion is a commemoration of our exodus from slavery. We were slaves to sin, but Christ set us free.
Whenever we go to the Lord’s Table, we make a beeline to the foot of the cross – the place where sin met its match. We remember that our sin is nailed to the cross.
Are you having a hard time forgetting your sins and failures? Does the devil keep reminding you of them? Stand on God’s Word and serve him an eviction notice. In the Old Testament, God said: “I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” In the New Testament, God said: “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Hebrews 8:12 NKJV). Scripture tells us what God does with our sins: “You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19 NKJV).
Soul food: Matt 1:18-21; Acts 3:1-16; Phil 2:9-11
2026-04-18
Hebreërs 8:12 NLV
God vergewe en vergeet. Hy onthou alles wat jy reg gedoen het terwyl Hy alles wat jy verkeerd gedoen het, vergeet. Dit is egter vir ons baie moeiliker om ons belyde sonde te vergeet, selfs al onthou God dit nie. Ons is geneig om ons foute makliker as ons suksesse te onthou. Daarom is dit moeiliker om onsself te vergewe as om God se vergifnis te ontvang. Ons is geneig om te onthou wat ons moet vergeet, terwyl ons vergeet wat ons moet onthou. Hierdie onvermoë om die sonde wat ons bely het te vergeet, is deel van ons sondige aard. Die sondeval het die beeld van God in ons gebreek.
Die amigdala is die deel van die brein wat vir die berging van emosionele herinneringe verantwoordelik is. Die sterkte van die herinnering word deur die sterkte van die emosie wat daaraan gekoppel is, bepaal. Ons vergeet vinnig die oomblikke wat nie ‘n flits op ons emosionele radar maak nie. Sterk emosies, soos skaamte, neem egter sondige foto’s en plak dit op plakkate in ons binneste vas. Hulle word buite verhouding in die donkerkamer van die gees opgeblaas.
Sukkel jy om te vergeet wat God vergewe het? Lees dan hierdie Skrifgedeeltes aandagtig en biddend: ‘Ek, ja, Ek alleen, is die Een wat julle sonde uitwis. Ek doen dit ter wille van Myself en dink nie weer daaraan nie’ (Jesaja 43:25 NLV). ‘Ek het jou sondes weggevee soos wolke verdwyn. Ek het jou oortredings verstrooi, jou sondes soos wolke wat verdwyn. Keer terug na My toe, want Ek het jou gered’ (Jesaja 44:22 NLV). ‘Ek sal My ontferm oor hulle ongeregtighede en Ek sal nooit weer aan hulle sondes dink nie’ (Hebreërs 8:12 NLV).
God het jou sonde vergewe en vergeet – dis tyd dat jy met Hom saamstem en dieselfde doen.
Sielskos: Hand 8-9; Matt 3:1-10; Ps 103:1-12; Spr 10:27-29
Hebrews 8:12 NKJV
God forgives and forgets. Amazing, isn’t it? He remembers everything you’ve done right while forgetting everything you’ve done wrong. Yet, while God cannot remember our confessed sin, we have a much harder time forgetting it. We tend to remember our mistakes more readily than our successes. That’s why it’s harder to forgive ourselves than to receive God’s forgiveness. We tend to remember what we should forget while forgetting what we should remember. That inability to forget the sin we’ve confessed is part of our sin nature itself.
The fall fractured the image of God in us, including the amygdala. That’s the part of the brain responsible for storing emotional memories. The strength of the memory is dictated by the strength of the emotion. We quickly forget the moments that don’t make a blip on our emotional radar. Strong emotions, such as shame, take sinful snapshots and poster-size them. They get blown out of proportion in the darkroom of the mind.
Are you struggling to forget what God has forgiven? Read these Scriptures carefully and prayerfully: “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins” (Isaiah 43:25 NKJV). “I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, and like a cloud, your sins. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you” (Isaiah 44:22 NKJV). “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins… I will remember no more” (Hebrews 8:12 NKJV).
God has forgiven and forgotten your sin – it’s time for you to agree with Him and do the same thing.
Soul food: Acts 8-9; Matt 3:1-10; Ps 103:1-12; Prov 10:27-29
