Today's topic is forgiveness. But not just forgiving
others, forgiving ourselves. It's so important
to forgive others, and it's also so important
to forgive ourselves. Because if we don't forgive
ourselves, how can we forgive others? And we
may know the fact that Jesus forgives us, but
it's difficult for us to forgive ourselves. The
first scripture today is 2 Corinthians 5;17
through 18. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,
he is a new creation. The old has passed away,
behold, the new has come. All this is from God,
who through Christ reconciled us to himself and
gave us the ministry of reconciliation. Our redemption
is in Christ and not ourselves. Take, for example,
a caterpillar. A caterpillar turns into a butterfly,
a new creation, a whole different insect. But
the butterfly doesn't still act like a caterpillar.
It flies and has different habits. When we are
redeemed and when we have Jesus Christ, we shouldn't
be acting out of the character of God. And when
we don't forgive ourselves, we are prone to act
out of the character of Jesus Christ. Our second
scripture is Psalm 103:10 through 11. It says,
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who
fear him. What is so interesting to me about
this verse is the psalmist often wrote about
God's justice, but he also wrote about God's
grace and his mercy. In this scripture, it says
for as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love towards those
who fear him. God's love extends even more than
that. Jesus loves us so much and God loved us
so much that he sent his son. If God washes us
clean, we need to stop thinking we need to wash
ourselves because that's only going to do minimal
work. When God washes us clean, it lasts. The
last scripture today is Romans 8:1. It
says, A lot of times, we condemn ourselves, and
we're not listening to the truth of Christ, that
His grace is sufficient for all the sins we've
ever committed, and that when we're born again,
we're a new creation in Christ. And there is
no condemnation. We put shame on ourselves. That
is unnecessary because God washes us clean. And
when we condemn ourselves, we lose our peace
and confidence in our prayers. We lose our peace
because we always have the attitude and we're
always thinking that God is out to get us and
that we are not forgiven for what we've done.
We also lose confidence in our prayers because
when we pray, we're thinking, will God answer
my prayer since I did X, Y, and Z the other day?
Or does God forgive me because I did X, Y, and
Z the other day? If Jesus convicts our spirit,
we shouldn't condemn ourselves walking farther
from God. But when we repent, we become closer
to God. Conviction comes from God. Condemnation
comes from Satan. Because that is something that
a lot of us do. We've all struggled with forgiving
ourselves. When we are forgiven, we need to stop
condemning ourselves. This applies to you if
you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
But if you don't have a personal relationship
with Jesus Christ, then I invite you to give
your heart to the Lord today. To receive him
into your heart, go to Romans 10:9 through
10. It says that if you confess with your mouth
the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that
God has raised him from the dead. you will be
saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
If you said this prayer with sincerity, you are
saved and now have eternal life with Jesus. You
are saved from all your sins, past, present,
and future sins you may commit. This truth is
not a free past to sin any time. Instead, Jesus
gives you power over all wrong choices and empowers
you to spread the gospel to others. You are saved
forever and your name is written in the Book
of Life!