I heard on KLOVE the other day a caller who was really struggling with forgiveness. The DJ explained to her when he went through a rough time in his marriage he struggled with forgiveness too. The Lord spoke to him with encouragement to not allow his hurt to cause more hurt. That goes right along with the whole idea of "hurting people hurt people"….
I think one of the hardest things to do is to forgive ourselves. It seems so much easier to forgive others. The Bible doesn't specifically give us direction on forgiving ourselves but there is plenty of direction on forgiving others. We need to include ourselves in the others. In Jeremiah 31:34 we are told when God forgives us, He "remembers our sins no more"…woo hoo! I don't think that necessarily means he forgets them but rather that He doesn't bring them up again. When we are reminded of past sins, it can cause us to feel guilty or we can choose to see it as a reminder of God's forgiveness for us. That reminder helps us to forgive easier.
We can go around kicking ourselves over and over again for what we've done or we can forgive ourselves and allow the Lord to heal us. It's our choice. When we don't forgive, life can be miserable. We will hurt. Therefore, we will hurt others including the Lord. I can't even imagine how the Lord feels when he sees His children going around berating themselves. He died on the cross for us. He shed His blood for us so that we were forgiven. Yet here we are not accepting His full grace by not forgiving ourselves. We have to get past whatever is holding us back and allow Him to work through us.
Dear Jesus,
Thank You for dying for me on the cross. Thank You for washing me white as snow. Thank You for healing me through some tough situations. You are so awesome Lord. I praise Your Holy Name for the way You continue to work in me and through me. I praise You for being the King of Kings and Lord of Lords of my life. Thank You Jesus for being My Healer. Amen.
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