One of the most difficult people to keep a relationship with is someone who holds on to your past. When someone close to you doesn’t forgive you for previous mistakes you’ve made or reminds you of your past failures, it makes things very difficult for you. It can bring condemnation to your life, resulting in a feeling of inferiority. This type of relationship is extremely detrimental to your wellbeing.
If anyone has the right to bring up our past mistakes and failures, it’s our perfect God. But He isn’t like that. In fact, God is the only One who can and will consistently give us the chance to start over…and over…and over! It’s not that we deserve His forgiveness and the opportunity for a fresh start. We don’t deserve it. The reality is that He chose to lay all of our guilt on Jesus, who suffered the shame and consequences of our sin. Now we can walk in the His grace and receive His forgiveness. We can now live in the freedom of knowing we’re accepted by God.
For the believer in Jesus, 1 John 1:9 tells us we’ll be forgiven and cleansed of sin if we’ll simply confess it. If you haven’t humbly confessed and admitted past sin to God, simply do so right now. Then walk in the liberty of knowing you stand clean before God. And if you have confessed past sin but you keep beating yourself up for what you did, it’s time to accept the fact that you’re forgiven. If the God of the universe forgives you, you can certainly forgive yourself. Freedom comes from knowing God loves you, accepts you, and forgives you. I pray you’re walking and living in His freedom today!
