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Forgive Yourself!

May 28, 2014 cm-admin Inspire 0

28 May 2014 by Mindy Oon CM –

Therefore Have I hope and expectation: It is because of the Lord’s mercy and loving-kindness that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great and abundant is Your stability and faithfulness.(Lamentations 3:21-23)

We serve a loving and compassionate God. When we mess up, He is quick to forgive when we confess and repent. In fact, Hebrews 8:12 says ‘I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.’ He wipes the slate completely clean, ‘erasing’ from His mind all memory of the wrong that we have done.

However, we are often not as kind to ourselves. Although God has forgotten and moved on, we are still playing past mistakes over and over in our minds. We somehow find it difficult to accept the grace that will help us to move forward with a life of joy and peace. We may even think that we need to pay and suffer for whatever we did wrong. We think that we are unworthy and undeserving of His forgiveness, and we ruminate on the sins we have committed. Guilt becomes a constant companion.

The Promise That Sets Your Free

Hebrews 10:16-18 says ‘This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.”

God has made a promise to all those who submit their lives to Him. We do not need to keep on feeling guilty. When Jesus paid the price for our sins, it was such a complete gift that there is no need for any other offerings to cover them. And yet, we sometimes beat ourselves up over our sins, simply because we do not know how to accept this gift. It is done! We do not need to keep feeling guilty.

Claim Your New Beginning

When you forgive yourself, you will not only be free of false guilt. You will also be giving God the room to transform you so that He can fulfill His purposes for your life. Be thankful for His forgiveness and what He has done, and start focusing on the present blessings that you have instead of the past hurts that you have experienced. Be open to learn what God wants to do in you and through you, and do not for one moment think that He can’t use ordinary people like us to do something extraordinary.

The AMP version of 1 Corinthians 1:26 says ‘For [simply] consider your own call, brethren; not many [of you were considered to be] wise according to human estimates and standards, not many influential and powerful, not many of high and noble birth.’ The enemy will always want us to feel small and insignificant. However, God will choose people that the world considers unimportant to do amazing things on His behalf.

We may have made great mistakes. But know that God has a destiny panned for you. Remember that God will always forgive you when you repent (repentance meaning we really try our best to turn away from the sin). Do not waste time stuck in past mistakes. Move on and move forward from the ‘if onlys’. Remember that Jesus shed His blood on the cross for the forgiveness of your sins. And if He has forgiven you, you too, need to forgive yourself and move into the future that God has planned for you!