You lay awake at night, work out, clean, organize, and rearrange your furniture more times than you care to count. You obsess over your studies, go shopping, binge watch pointless shows on your computer, work extra hours, and even engage in philanthropic endeavors! You have to stay busy.
Truth is, that no matter how much you beg your soul to be still, your soul just won’t listen. Oftentimes, you get easily angered by everything and everyone. In reality, you’re angry at yourself.
You know who you are, and you know what I’m talking about.
If only you could push rewind. If only you could edit out that one “scene from episode 4 season 2 of your life”maybe, just maybe things would be different today. But you can’t, and you know it. No matter how much you try to avoid it, this question continues to haunt you:
“If I can’t forgive myself, how can I possibly ever learn to forgive others?”
Here’s the thing: forgiveness is an act of freedom, freedom is a byproduct of love and love is the essence of God. Just as we are able to love because He loves us, we are able to forgive because He forgives us. Pretty straightforward.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
What a wonderful promise that is! No need to keep beating yourself up. No matter how terrible, horrible, and unmentionable that one thing you did is, Forgiveness is yours. The scars on His hands are a prove of this, and He is waiting arms wide open. We’re talking about a God who throws our mistakes to the bottom of the sea and choses to never again remember them! (Micah 7:19.) There’s no need to hold on to your past mistakes when He has already let them go.
True forgiveness has nothing to do with feelings. Next time you find that you are having a hard time forgiving yourself in spite of confession, remember that you are forgiven, not because you feel it but because He said it.
Yes, Divine forgiveness is more than sufficient. You can safely command your soul to be still. After all, The Lord is on your side.
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