Forgiving yourself

[Christgirl67]

Is it important to forgive yourself if God has forgiven you?How do you get past the guilt of your sins if you can still remember them?I am struggling understanding thia right now.

 

[disciple Clint]

Is it important to forgive yourself if God has forgiven you?How do you get past the guilt of your sins if you can still remember them?I am struggling understanding thia right now.

Yes you need to forgive yourself. satan is trying to keep you in sin and destroy your relationship with God. So he reminds you of your sin. He wants to convince you that you are not worthy of God's love

 

[Humble me Lord]

It is important to forgive ourselves.
Also remember that the only perfect one was Jesus. We are all born sinners, this is why we need a savior.

 

[paul1149]

Consider how it must grieve the Lord Jesus when, having given so much in love to set us free, we still cling to our past mistakes and errors. The debt has been fully paid, whether we avail ourselves of the freedom we now have, or not. But it would be a waste not to "press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me" (Php 3.12).

The question now is whether we are going to find our identity in Christ, or whether we will cling to the old man the world had shaped us into. Holding onto the old will end in fruitlessness or even death. You can't drink deep of God's mercy and grace while you're focusing on yourself and the past. Embracing the fulness of Christ's forgiveness doesn't mean we are flippant about what it cost Him to save us. Far from it, we understand the seriousness of our sins and the high price He paid. We begin to see it as a measure of His love for us, and we love Him all the more in return.

So ultimately you best honor the Lord and what He did for you when you accept His forgiveness and get over yourself, so you can live your new life to the full for Him.

For the love of Christ controls us, since we have concluded this, that Christ died for all; therefore all have died.
And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised.
So then from now on we acknowledge no one from an outward human point of view. Even though we have known Christ from such a human point of view, now we do not know him in that way any longer.
So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away – look, what is new has come! -2Cor 5:14-17​

 

[Christgirl67]

Consider how it must grieve the Lord Jesus when, having given so much in love to set us free, we still cling to our past mistakes and errors. The debt has been fully paid, whether we avail ourselves of the freedom we now have, or not. But it would be a waste not to "press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me" (Php 3.12).

The question now is whether we are going to find our identity in Christ, or whether we will cling to the old man the world had shaped us into. Holding onto the old will end in fruitlessness or even death. You can't drink deep of God's mercy and grace while you're focusing on yourself and the past. Embracing the fulness of Christ's forgiveness doesn't mean we are flippant about what it cost Him to save us. Far from it, we understand the seriousness of our sins and the high price He paid. We begin to see it as a measure of His love for us, and we love Him all the more in return.

So ultimately you best honor the Lord and what He did for you when you accept His forgiveness and get over yourself, so you can live your new life to the full for Him.

For the love of Christ controls us, since we have concluded this, that Christ died for all; therefore all have died.
And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised.
So then from now on we acknowledge no one from an outward human point of view. Even though we have known Christ from such a human point of view, now we do not know him in that way any longer.
So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away – look, what is new has come! -2Cor 5:14-17​

Thank you for your reply.I had never viewed it like this,it makes a lot of sense.

 

[Christgirl67]

It is important to forgive ourselves.
Also remember that the only perfect one was Jesus. We are all born sinners, this is why we need a savior.

Thanks for your reply.

 

[Christgirl67]

Yes you need to forgive yourself. satan is trying to keep you in sin and destroy your relationship with God. So he reminds you of your sin. He wants to convince you that you are not worthy of God's love

Thank you,this gave me a different view of the situation.

 

[longwait]

satan condemns, God convicts.

 

[FormerGodHater]

I've had to learn to rely on the truth of God's word, not my feelings or emotions. Satan loves to play on the latter and whisper lies into your mind to make you think they're your own: guilt, condemnation, hatred, failure. Once I learned these things, I realized that I had to learn to simply trust and believe scriptures like Romans 8:1-2 (NKJV): "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death." Another fantastic passage is Colossians 2:13-14: "And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." (Note the emphasis: these things have already happened! They don't happen when your body dies! Forgiveness and eternity have ALREADY started!! We just have a while yet to live in our 'earthsuits!')

You need to arm yourself with truth about your forgiveness which will overcome feelings and emotions. Choosing to believe and internalize truths like these will arm you. Funny thing, you mentioned having "bad" memories, like about things you regret, and I just wrote about this last week.

 

[carp614]

This was a big stumbling block in my spiritual journey.

I know what I've done. Some of it is really profoundly terrible. I've caused so...much...pain. But I have repented of my sins and accepted the gift that was freely offered. Once I got over thinking that I was beyond God's saving Grace. Once I got past the idea that God could forgive me, but I could never forgive myself, everything changed for me.

How did I get over myself? I'm not totally certain. At some point a few years ago, I fully and completely accept Jesus atoning sacrifice freed me from the power of sin in my life. I wouldn't even necessarily think of it as a conscious decision. It was more that I was able to accept it in my heart and soul, without reservations.

after that, the weight of my shame was lifted. Not eliminated like it never happened, but the pain of it was alleviated to a miraculous extent. I hope that happens to you.

 

[Christgirl67]

This was a big stumbling block in my spiritual journey.

I know what I've done. Some of it is really profoundly terrible. I've caused so...much...pain. But I have repented of my sins and accepted the gift that was freely offered. Once I got over thinking that I was beyond God's saving Grace. Once I got past the idea that God could forgive me, but I could never forgive myself, everything changed for me.

How did I get over myself? I'm not totally certain. At some point a few years ago, I fully and completely accept Jesus atoning sacrifice freed me from the power of sin in my life. I wouldn't even necessarily think of it as a conscious decision. It was more that I was able to accept it in my heart and soul, without reservations.

after that, the weight of my shame was lifted. Not eliminated like it never happened, but the pain of it was alleviated to a miraculous extent. I hope that happens to you.

Thank you,I never realized I had to forgive myself until a pastor said it once at church.

 

[Sketcher]

It's a necessary and dangerous thing.

It's necessary because you need to internalize what Jesus has done for you, and not let guilt and shame dominate your life.

It's dangerous because taking that too far can turn into excusing yourself when you should not.

Someone who fails to forgive himself will flagellate himself whenever he spills the milk. Someone who overdoes it will never clean the milk up or bother to adjust his pouring technique. Be neither of them.