Occasionally, we may catch ourselves saying or thinking these things in the wake of a terrible incident that we believe was all our fault. A mother looks away for only a minute, and the child vanishes. someone operating a vehicle and causes a collision. You could definitely come up with additional situations where someone feels guilty despite being assured it’s not their fault, and the guilt just won’t go away.
When I truly forgive someone from the bottom of my heart, I stop trying to exact revenge or harbor grudges against them for a transgression or sin.
Given that Christians believe that God, not us, is entitled to retribution and punishment, it should be simple to both receive and extend forgiveness. Sadly, things don’t always work like this.
Forgiveness from God
We understand that when we sin, it will negatively impact our connection with God, and He invites us to come to Him and confess our transgressions so that He can absolve us of our guilt. “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,” according to 1 John 1:9. Although the sin is forgiven, we frequently have to deal with the fallout from our transgressions. God has the ability to take those consequences and work them into our lives for our benefit, growing our faith and love for Him as [He fortifies our character].
Forgiveness from others
In addition to transgressing against God, we often trespass against other people as well. In these situations, we may need to approach the offended party, confess our wrongdoing, and beg for their forgiveness. Matthew 5:23–24 states, “Therefore, leave your gift before the altar and depart if you are offering it there and you recall that your brother has something against you. Come present your gift when you have made peace with your brother. Compared to begging God for forgiveness, this may seem more difficult because people aren’t always as forgiving as God is. To live in harmony with others, it is crucial, therefore, that we make amends with those we have offended.
Forgiveness to others
There will be occasions when people sin against us in addition to us sinning against others. At first, we could feel betrayed, irate, hurt, or unwilling to make amends with people who have wronged us. This is normal, but if we want to live lives that please God, we must follow His instructions found in Matthew 6:14–15: “Your heavenly Father will also forgive you if you forgive others when they sin against you.” But your Father will not pardon your sins if you do not pardon the crimes of others.
When we forgive someone who has wronged us and they come to us to confess and beg for forgiveness, we are demonstrating to them the love and mercy of God. Even if it occasionally takes some time for the feelings of disappointment or rage to go away, we can genuinely forgive from our hearts when we have God’s assistance.
Forgiveness to ourselves
This can occasionally be the most difficult thing of all because we may feel like we failed miserably and that forgiving ourselves would be letting ourselves off the hook too easy, or we may have caused something terrible to occur. There are a few things to keep in mind in situations like this:
- Everything that occurs is under the authority of [God]. Even though He may not have been the cause of the catastrophe, He did permit it to occur, and He invites us to put our faith in Him so that “He will work it together for good” (Romans 8:28).
- If we have acknowledged to God our wrongdoing in the circumstance, He has heard us and has extended His forgiveness as He promised.
- The devil, who is our enemy, enjoys falsely accusing us, reminding us of our mistakes, and piling on guilt so that we won’t be able to forgive ourselves. The devil’s primary goal in life is to ruin God’s work and his people, and when we carry on feeling burdened, guilty, and unforgivable, he is undoubtedly accomplishing his goal.
The solution to this is to identify the source of our shame and realize that we are thinking a falsehood because, in reality, all sins of this nature are forgiven, especially if they have been confessed to God.
You can thus chastise the devil in the name of Jesus, and you will receive from Him both the forgiveness and the sense of forgiveness that He bestows upon us when we confess our sins.
Can I ever forgive myself?
It’s a straightforward “yes.” There is no more guilt when God has pardoned us. [We have freedom].
