Forgive or Forget or Both?

In our study in The Lord’s Prayer on Sundays, I spoke on Matthew 6:12 yesterday. Jesus teaches them to pray, “and forgive us our debt as we have forgiven our debtors.” A loose, but pretty literal, interpretation of forgiveness is to “let go.” So the question arises in my mind…

When we grant someone forgiveness, do we forget about the debt or is it credited to them as “paid in full?” And what difference does it make?

For me, I know my debt to God is paid through Jesus Christ. It’s not that the debt never existed, it’s just that Christ died for them. Now, I live to serve the one who paid my debt. I am a servant, not in bondage, but by my choice.

In the same way, I’m going to try to serve some others whom I have sinned against and experienced their forgiveness and grace. I’m not going to ask them to forget about it, just thank them for following the example of Christ and practicing forgiveness.

Thoughts?