You Can Forgive Yourself
Heart Prep
I know I have messed up, and I know I have made mistakes, but help me to do better. Teach me how to live more like You. Most of all, help me not to throw a pity party if I do mess up. Help me to forgive myself, dust myself off and try again tomorrow as You wrap Your arms around me.
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
We all mess up. We all make mistakes. We do things we know we aren’t supposed to do. The Bible calls this sin. God sent His Son to die in our place because He knew we were sinners. Jesus came to take our sin on Himself, so we could spend eternity with Him. But, just because we have a relationship with Him does not make us perfect. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come..” If we recognize that what we are doing is wrong, God promises to forgive us and remake us. But repentance is not just confessing sin, it is turning away from it. Yes, we will mess up, but we cannot live in our sin. And even though we may know God forgives us, we need to forgive ourselves.
Often, it is hardest to forgive ourselves when we mess up. You will always be your own hardest critic. We are so quick to judge ourselves and see only the negative parts of our characters. But God’s Word applies to forgiving ourselves, too. We must stop listening to the voice in our heads telling us that we aren’t good enough or pretty enough, the voice that tells us that we messed up too many times to be loved. We must fight these lies with the truth, and the truth says you are a new creation. The truth says you can be free from all that burdens you. The truth says you are loved by God and created perfectly. The truth says you are successful and have purpose. Let God’s truth live in your heart, and forgive yourself so you can live the life God fully intended you to live.
Life Application
Do you think that God forgives you every time you mess up?
Do you have trouble forgiving yourself?
How can finding forgiveness help you live in freedom?