Forgiveness is one of the great virtues of the Christian life. We dealt earlier with the importance of forgiving other people. (watch here), and steps to arrive at forgiveness (read here). And usually, when we consider forgiveness, it is often from the perspective of forgiving other people. So many people do not know that forgiveness is also towards oneself. People need to forgive themselves. They have issues with themselves. They carry a burden of guilt. Not only that, they hold themselves responsible for past actions.
How do you live with that? How do you get rid of that burden of guilt? In this powerful and practical teaching, you will learn why and how you should forgive yourself.
Here are some quotations from the teaching to meditate over:
- Forgiveness is one of the great virtues of the Christian life.
- When you forgive yourself, you release yourself from the burden of your past offences.
- It is a terrible mistake to continue to live under the yoke of your own failings… because you miss out on the other things that God wants to do with your life. You deprive [God] of the opportunity to change your life for the better and to fulfil His purpose in your life.
- Your life belongs to [God] not to yourself.
- Many people destroy valuable relationships because of their fear, their cowardice. They cannot stand up for the people who have been there for them.
Why should you forgive yourself?
We realise the need to forgive ourselves when we see that we offend as much as we are offended, so we must release ourselves the way we release others. Our carelessness often leads us to hurt others and our own selves. Often we make wrong choices based on wrong belief systems, and at times we allow Satan to manipulate us.
Watch the teaching and discover different areas where such forgiveness is needed and why, and how to successfully release yourself.
These messages are based on the Sermon on the Plain in Luke 6. Click below to watch other messages in the same series.