Self-Forgiveness

After reading my post on forgiveness, a friend shared about her need to work on self-forgiveness. I realized my post on forgiveness failed to address self-forgiveness.

One must extend forgiveness, like love, to oneself first. Holding on to past hurts on any level affects our hearts from truly forgiving.

Being human, we make mistakes and we hurt others, we hurt ourselves. These mistakes may cause us to regret, feel shame, experience guilt, heart break. If we grew up in a critical environment, we may be critical about our imperfections. We refuse to believe what God says about us or perceive ourselves through His eyes.

Many messy experiences make up our past. Marinating on past mistakes and allowing them to have power over us in the present serves us no good.

How do we release these things that bind us? How do we move forward and forgive ourselves?

Grace

God extended grace to us through Jesus’ redemptive power. Jesus has the power to regenerate our hearts. As we lay what binds us from the past and give it to Him with a repenting heart, He receives. He releases it from us, replacing it with His peace. He cleanses our hearts and our minds, allowing us to live freely in the present with hope for the future.

Our past life experiences shape us. They do not define us. Lay whatever consumes your heart with guilt or shame at Jesus’s feet. Let Him take it. Receive His grace and forgive yourself.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, When I acknowledge my sin to you, saying “I’ll come clean about my failures to You.”, the pressure was gone, my guilt dissolved, my sin disappeared. Thank you, Jesus, for taking all of my guilt and shame upon You on the cross. Your redemptive power restores me. Help me to forgive myself as I receive the gift of forgiveness You hold out to me. (Psalm 32:5, Isaiah 50:7)