Self-Forgiveness

This topic kind of took me by surprise today. I've had a beautiful day today enjoying the gorgeous weather and just such a feeling of inner peace all day so I was quite surprised when tonight, after dinner, when my husband and I were sitting outside just enjoying each other's company, and our dogs, all these thoughts of past things I had done, that I am definitely not proud of, started intruding my thoughts. Almost immediately the word forgiveness came to mind and I just knew that I needed to write about self-forgiveness.

Everyone knows that we are supposed to forgive others, and we also know how hard that can be, but did you also know you need to forgive yourself? As hard as I find it to forgive others, at times, I find it way harder to forgive myself. I think back of things that I have done and I am just ashamed. Yet I have to keep telling myself that Jesus has already forgiven me of those things and if He has forgiven me, and He is a far greater authority, He is the ultimate authority, then I also need to forgive myself.

It used to be that every time these types of thoughts would enter my head I would experience guilt and I would ask Jesus for forgiveness over and over again. Until one day this scripture finally took root:

Psalm 103:11-13 New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;
¹² as far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

¹³ As a father has compassion on his children,
    so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;

The Lord has taken our sins and cast them away. He loves us and has compassion on us and forgets our sins:

Isaiah 43:25 New International Version (NIV)

 

²⁵ “I, even I, am he who blots out
    your transgressions, for my own sake,
    and remembers your sins no more.

 

 

He says that He blots out our transgressions for His sake. If He is forgiving us for His sake why do we feel that we need to hold on to them, that we can't forgive ourselves? Are we more important than God? Is our opinion of ourselves more important than His opinion of us? I think not!

 

So if you find yourself today, or any other day, hanging on to your past sins and not forgiving yourself, ask yourself "am I more important than God?" And as soon as you say "no" forgive yourself of your past and thank God that He has forgiven you, tell Him you love Him, and move on.

 

If you have never come to God and asked for forgiveness of your sins then you need to. It is the only way to have peace with God. My faith refers to it as the sinner's prayer. It is simply a way of declaring to God that you are relying on Jesus Christ as your Savior. There are no "magical" words that result in salvation. It is only faith in Jesus' death and resurrection that can save us. If you understand that you are a sinner and in need of salvation through Jesus Christ, here is a sinner's prayer you can pray to God: "God, I know that I am a sinner. I know that I deserve the consequences of my sin. However, I am trusting in Jesus Christ as my Savior. I believe that His death and resurrection provided for my forgiveness. I trust in Jesus and Jesus alone as my personal Lord and Savior. Thank you Lord, for saving me and forgiving me! Amen!"

I pray that you have Peace with God today.