How good are you at forgiving? Do you forgive others when they do something that offends you? Do you forgive yourself when you do something you know is wrong? Will you accept forgiveness from others? Do you know that Christ died to cover all sins for all time?
Forgiving others can be difficult. If someone slanders us, we may be able to prove them wrong and move on. If they physically injure us, we may heal and put the injury behind us. But forgiving the person for doing these things to us may take a long time to do.
Forgiving ourselves can be even more difficult. There are sins we live with that only we know about. We remember things we did wrong years ago, perhaps as children, and may continue to beat ourselves up about them. We can be held prisoner by these memories, continually trying to make for them. We may even impose the punishment of ourselves on others unknowingly.
I have recently participated in an exercise to demonstrate how our sins are forgiven. It is a simple exercise. You write a sin on a small piece of flash paper. You have a lit candle available. You light the flash paper with the candle and quickly toss it into the air. The flash paper burns very quickly, leaving no smoke and no ash. It simply disappears without a trace.
Jesus died a horrible death on the cross to do the same for our sins. We confess them, ask for forgiveness, and His suffering eliminates them. His righteousness covers our unrighteousness. His perfection covers our imperfection. His suffering was endured so that we could go to God without fear, without reservation, and without hesitation. Jesus gave Himself up so that we can be reconciled with God.
I pray we all know that Jesus died for our sins. I pray we accept forgiveness from Jesus. I pray each one of us will forgive ourselves, knowing that God forgives us when we confess our sins and ask for forgiveness. Christ died for you. He died so your sins would be forgiven. Learn to forgive others. Learn to forgive yourself. Ask God to help you forgive.
1 Peter 3:18a For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God.
Marty Pressey 