Forgiving Oneself!

Many times in recent years I have heard statements like the following, “yes, I know that God has forgiven me, but I cannot forgive myself.” The awful part of this statement is the person who says it, says it as if it were a virtue.

Here are a few thoughts for consideration.

1. The Bible does not address the problem. If it were real, the Bible would speak to it.

2. The Bible speaks about being forgiven and forgiving others.

For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. Matthew 6:14 (NIV)

This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart. Matthew 18:35 (NIV)

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:32

3. The Bible speaks of two kinds of sorrow, Godly sorrow and worldly sorrow.

Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 2 Corinthians 7:10 (NIV)

Not forgiving oneself is worldly sorrow. It results in death. Godly sorrow leaves no regret. Not forgiving oneself is living in regret, which means it wasn’t Godly sorrow, which means God has not forgiven because the sorrow wasn’t Godly. In other words there is no such thing as being forgiven by God and not forgiving oneself. If forgiven by God there would be joy.

4. The person who says he “cannot forgive himself” is making himself senior to God. Who does he think he is?

5. There is another problem; that is in his use of words. He says he “cannot forgive.” He means he “will not forgive.”

6. This is not a virtue. It is denying the work of Christ, the faithfulness of Christ and the word of Christ.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 1 John 1:7 (NIV)

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

7. This saying “cannot forgive” is one major sin that needs repentance and forgiveness.

Comments

Why Is Obedience So Hard?

There are several reasons why obedience seems hard. I will comment on some of them and then speak positively on how obedience is easy. We think: 1) Obedience is an infringement on freedom. Since we are free in Christ, and obedience is somehow contrary to that freedom, we conclude that obedience is not good. Yet we know it is good. Thus, we become confused about obedience and are not single-minded. 2) Obedience is works. We who have been justified by grace through faith are opposed to works; therefore, we are opposed to obedience. 3) We have tried to obey and have failed—frequently. Therefore, the only solution is to disobey and later confess to receive forgiveness. It is easier to be forgiven by grace than to obey by effort. 4) We confuse obedience to men with obedience to God. Although these are sometimes one and the same (see Romans 13, 1 Peter 2-3, Ephesians 5-6, Colossians 3, and Titus 2), sometimes they are not the same (see Colossians 2:20-23, Mark 7, 1 Timothy 4:1-5, a...

Ripe for Harvest: Prepared to Give an Answer

As you read through the book of Acts, look at every conversion, and see what happened right before it: what was said, who said it. The situations are the same today. A long time ago, my duty in the Officer’s Christian Fellowship was the east coast of the United States. I went to an officer’s office at Fort Lee, VA, and stayed overnight, then I went on to Norfolk and Fort Bragg. Forty years later, I was no longer on the staff of OCF, but I had to go to Denver. While I was in Denver, I checked in at the OCF offices. There was the same Air Force officer I had met in Fort Lee, retired now, a colonel. I had stayed in his house when he was a first lieutenant. He asked me, “Do you know what happened when you stayed overnight?” I said, “No, I just remember staying in your home.” He said, “You led the next-door neighbor to Christ.” I had no memory of it. Ten years after that, I was speaking at a banquet at the Hotel Salisbury, and who was th...

Lifted Up

In the first thirteen verses of John 3, Nicodemus did not understand what Jesus was talking about. It was nonsense to him. When Jesus said verse fourteen to him, Nicodemus finally understood Jesus. Here it is: “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up…” (John 3:14). The reason it made sense to Nicodemus was because he knew of the event that Jesus spoke of. People who had been bitten by a serpent could look at the bronze snake and did not die. Nicodemus knew the Bible story. Here it is: “Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, ‘We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people. The LORD said to Moses, ‘Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.’ So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then ...

Roots by the River

Search This Blog