Forgiveness is a crucial cornerstone of Christianity, but it is not easy to live out in our everyday lives. This article gives us three encouraging things to consider when struggling with forgiveness. It could be we are having a hard time forgiving ourselves, or someone else. I hope you find this as helpful as I did!
What is the hardest part of forgiveness for you?
I find it hard to forgive myself.
Lysa Terkuerst has written a book Forgiving What you Can’t Forget. There’s a lot of personal stuff, a lot of Scripture used and the information is very practical. She deals with hardcore issues.
The book really helped me.
You have such a hard time forgiving yourself because you can’t forgive yourself.
Actually that’s not true…. I can forgive myself. Sometimes it’s really hard.
It is hard and takes some exhausting emotional work. Give yourself patience and time.
Forgiveness is something I struggle with, especially when it comes to forgiving myself. I often hold onto past mistakes, and one time I had a heated argument with a close friend where I said things I deeply regretted. Apologizing was hard, but forgiving myself felt even tougher.
(Ephesians 4:32) reminds us to “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” This resonates with me because it emphasizes that forgiveness is a gift we give ourselves and others.
Remembering God’s grace helps me realize that if He can forgive me, I can learn to forgive myself. It’s an ongoing journey, but recognizing my own imperfections makes it a bit easier to extend that grace.
An interesting article, what it left out was the need to admit to ourselves as welll as to God that we have sinned.
Forgiveness can only start with us or the person who has transgressed against us admitting they have done wrong.
IJohn1:9 if we confess our sins, he ,God, will forgive us our sins.
BUT as the article said often we cannot forgive ourselves, we take salmost pride in not forgiving ourselves, rejoicing almost in the pain of not being forgiven.
God so loved a sinful world, that his holy perfect Son became a man. Limiting himself, leaving the glory, majesty and worship of heaven for the company of ignorant sinners who would reject him in his deepest need.
He died a disgusting, degrading death to pay the penalty of our guilt, shame and punishment. He rose to life as proof that he had finished, completed the law and that his righteousness could be put to our account.
Who knowing this can doubt that God will not forgive the repentant sinner.
It seems to come down to forgiving oneself. The best example is Peter and Judas. Both betray Jesus but two entirely different outcomes.
One cannot be forgiven unless one has repented of that sin.
One cannot forgive oneself if one knows there is no repentance.
Also th3 devil loves to rake up past sins we are ashamed of and accuse us with them.
We have to trust God when he tells us he will remember our sins no more andremind ourselves that God has forgiven us, so we can forgive ourselves.
