Battling With Guilt? Forgive Yourself

Picture Credit: lostandtired.com

If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.”

Whenever you look within, you hate yourself. You could kick yourself over and over for your past failures and choices. You've repented of your past mistakes, but you haven’t accepted the truth that all has been forgiven. You still feel ashamed and guilty about your past and you keep holding it against yourself.

 Untangle yourself from these feelings of guilt and condemnation. You need to forgive yourself. Not even an exorcism can redeem you. Unwillingness to forgive oneself deprives that person's heart of true joy and liberation.

Mr. Barwick, had a serious and painful circulation problem in his leg but rejected the recommended amputation. As the pain grew worse, Barwick grew bitter. "I hate it! I hate it!" he would mutter about the leg. At last he relented and told the doctor, "I can’t stand it anymore. I’m through with that leg. Take it off. Surgery was scheduled immediately. Before the operation, however, Barwick asked the doctor, "What do you do with legs after they’re removed?" We may take a biopsy or explore them a bit, but afterwards we incinerate them" , the doctor replied. Barwick proceeded with a bizarre request: "I would like you to preserve my leg in a pickling jar. I will install it on my mantle shelf. Then, as I sit in my armchair, I will taunt that leg, “Hah! You can’t hurt me anymore!’" Ultimately, he got his wish. But the despised leg had the last laugh. Barwick suffered phantom limb pain of the worst degree. The wound healed, but he could feel the torturous pressure of the swelling as the muscles cramped, and he had no prospect of relief. He had hated the leg with such intensity that the pain had unaccountably lodged permanently in his brain.

This provides wonderful insight into the phenomenon of false guilt. People can be obsessed by the memory of some sin committed years ago. It never leaves them, crippling their ministry, their devotional life, and their relationships with others. They live in fear that someone will discover their past. They go out of their way to prove to everyone that they have truly repented. They erect barriers against the enveloping, loving grace around them. Unless they experience the truth in this text which stresses the importance of forgiving oneself, they become as pitiful as poor Mr. Barwick, shaking a fist in fury at the pickled leg on the mantle. Imagine the pain and loneliness you feel when you despise yourself.

 As American writer, Mark Twain, puts it, “The worst loneliness is to not be comfortable with yourself.”

Life is a gift. And the recipient of a gift ought to receive it gladly and with joy.If the recipient receives the gift, but ignores it, the giver is mocked, belittled and feels unappreciated.

When we fail to forgive ourselves, we are like a child who is given a trip to Disney World for Christmas, yet keeps complaining that he can't go, even after his parents have already pulled the car out of the driveway and are waiting on him to get in! How would you feel if you were that child's parents? Wouldn't you feel terrible, knowing that you spent all that money on this trip: the tickets, the hotel reservations, etc.,And if your child rejects the gift because he doubts its (the gift's) reality? 

 Make up your mind today to forget the past so you can live in the fullness of your present. It's time to move forward.