8/18/2024
Forgiving Yourself
Forgiveness
May God give us the grace to see ourselves as he does, and offer ourselves love, compassion, and forgiveness regardless of what we’ve done.
Introduction
In our weeklong focus on forgiveness, today we’re going to look at what it takes to forgive ourselves. For some of us, forgiving ourselves can be the hardest part of forgiveness.
May God give us the grace to see ourselves as he does, and offer ourselves love, compassion, and forgiveness regardless of what we’ve done.
Scripture
Proverbs 28:13 ESV
Devotional
As Christians striving to love others well and live in obedience to the commands of Christ, we often are harder on ourselves than our heavenly Father is. If we are ever going to experience the depths of God’s love in every season, we must learn to forgive ourselves. In Brennan Manning’s book, Abba’s Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging, he writes a powerful statement that has the ability to both guide us to a greater lifestyle of peace and open the door of our hearts to greater affections from our heavenly Father:
"But we cannot assume that He feels about us the way we feel about ourselves—unless we love ourselves compassionately, intensely, and freely. In human form Jesus revealed to us what God is like. He exposed our projections for the idolatry that they are and gave us the way to become free of them. It takes a profound conversion to accept that God is relentlessly tender and compassionate toward us just as we are—not in spite of our sins and faults (that would not be total acceptance), but with them. Though God does not condone or sanction evil, He does not withhold his love because there is evil in us."
Our Father loves us unconditionally. His grace and mercy will never run out. He is never surprised when we sin or fall short of the life to which we’ve been called because he knows our need of him. He knows that without his help we will never succeed in living a lifestyle of obedience. He knows that without consistent encounters with his love we will never be able to fully love others. And he knows that without being consistently filled with the Holy Spirit we will never be empowered to live in the freedom from sin Christ’s death affords us.
1 John 2:1 says, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” God does not condone our sin. He does not enjoy our mistakes. But he will meet us in our place of brokenness and need every time we fail. He will offer us mercy and compassion every time we come to him in confession and repentance. And nothing could ever cause him to stop loving us for even a moment.
Your heavenly Father is beckoning you to forgive yourself today. He’s waiting to fill you with his mercy and grace to overflowing. He’s ready to lead you into a lifestyle of loving yourself as he has loved you. Run out to meet him today. Allow him to clothe you with love, honor, and grace. Allow him to show you the depths of his compassion for you. And live today in light of the glorious grace of Jesus.
Prayer
1. Meditate on the importance of forgiving yourself. Allow Scripture to give you God’s perspective of grace and mercy.
2. Where do you need to forgive yourself today? What mistake or failure are you carrying around like a weight? Where are you not offering yourself the grace and mercy offered by your heavenly Father?
3. Ask God to share with you his perspective. Ask him to help you see yourself as he sees you. Spend time resting in his love and compassion and being filled with his affections to overflowing.
Worship
Go
Often we carry the weight of our mistakes because we are unwilling to ask forgiveness from others. Confessing and repenting to those we’ve wronged is a vital part of the Christian life. Admitting our weaknesses and faults to others helps remove us from the pursuit of perfection and guide us to a life of surrender and humility. Confess your sins and ask for forgiveness from anyone you’ve wronged. And allow the forgiveness of your heavenly Father to fill you with joy, love, and freedom where only sin and shame abounded before.
Extended Reading: Romans 8 or watch The Bible Project’s video on Romans 5-16.
Confess your sins and ask for forgiveness from anyone you’ve wronged. And allow the forgiveness of your heavenly Father to fill you with joy, love, and freedom where only sin and shame abounded before.
Join over 230,000 readers connecting with God each day.
Get the Daily Devotional in your inbox
New podcast