“Look straight ahead with honest confidence; don’t hang your head in shame.” (Proverbs 4:25 TEV)
You don’t need to walk around carrying a load of guilt. The Apostle Paul says, “Yes,
all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious ideal; yet now God
declares us ‘not guilty’ of offending him if we trust in Jesus Christ,
who in his kindness freely takes away our sins” (Romans 3:23-24 TLB).
God wants to forgive you. Imagine a giant blackboard with all of your
sins written across it; God comes along with a giant eraser and erases
it all. It’s like an Etch A Sketch: You turn it upside down, shake it,
turn it back up, and the slate is clean. God’s forgiveness is the same
way, and that’s good news, isn’t it?
But we need to accept God’s forgiveness. We may know about God’s
forgiveness intellectually, but we have to believe it, deep down inside,
accepting in faith that it is true – because it is!
One thing that often blocks us from accepting forgiveness from God is
that we are unable to forgive ourselves. You need to forgive yourself
for your past failures and sins, for the habits and hang-ups that led
you to sin. Forgive yourself! God teaches us, “Look straight ahead with
honest confidence; don’t hang your head in shame” (Proverbs 4:25 TEV).
Have you ever committed a sin and asked God to forgive you, and even
though you know he’s forgiven you, you still feel lousy? What do you do
in that situation? Do you go back and ask him to forgive you again? Do
you confess it over and over again?
No. You only have to confess a sin one time, and it’s forgiven. But
you may have to forgive yourself a hundred times and say it over and
over until it sinks in: “God’s forgiven me. It’s over.”
Still, we want to keep reminding God of things he’s already
forgotten. Someone once asked Eleanor Roosevelt, “How did you accomplish
so much with your life?” She responded, “I never waste time with
regrets.”
Don’t waste time with your regrets. Accept God’s forgiveness, and forgive yourself.
Talk About It
What is it that you need to forgive yourself for today?
Do you ever picture God keeping track of all your wrongs? How does that affect your ability to accept his forgiveness?
