Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
When we repent, God is willing to forgive and cleanse. This is a finished work, it’s not a thing we should pick up and examine over and over (I John 1:9).
God does the forgiving of sin. He buries our sins it in the deepest ocean, sends them as far as the east is from the west.
Psalm 103:12
As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
Can we forgive ourselves? I’ve thought about this a while and I’m not sure that is a Biblical concept. We need to know God’s forgiveness.
Just as he has forgiven us, we can forgive others their trespasses against us.
Matthew 6:12
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
Matthew 6:14
For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
What if someone asks for forgiveness and we are unwilling to forgive. This is sin and will disrupt our relationship with others and with God.
Luke 6:37
Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:
What if you need to forgive someone who is no longer alive, or is not able to communicate with you for one reason or another. They may not be able or willing to ask for forgiveness. We can forgive them anyway and this will have an effect in our life. Did the Roman guards ask for forgiveness at the foot of the cross? Look at some Bible examples of forgiveness: Jacob and Esau (Genesis 25,27,32,33)
Joseph forgiveness of his brothers (Genesis 37-50)
David and Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 9)
The Prodigal Son (Luke 15)
Some of these asked for forgiveness, others did not, that wasn’t a limiting factor of forgiveness.
What about the woman caught in adultery (John 8) precious words of Jesus…
John 8: 10,11
When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more
God forgave us while we were yet sinners. (Romans 5:8)
We could write our own story. What about you when…
As far as “forgiving ourselves”, we should try to remember that God is the one we need to seek forgiveness from if we have sinned against Him. This could be in our attitude. Like I tell my Sunday School class: “Sin is anything we do, say, or think that displeases God”. We need to repent of those things and leave them with the Lord. If we are able to seek forgiveness from someone we have wronged, I think it is good for them and ourselves to go to them and ask for forgiveness and let them know we are sorry. If they are unwilling to forgive, we have done the right thing and before God we are forgiven. Satan would like to make us think we are still condemned, but what does God say about that?
We are no longer condemned…
Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Is there anything too hard for God to forgive?
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS.
When the Bible says “all”, that means all. Reflect again on the story of Corrie Ten Boom who came face-to-face with the SS guard who had murdered so many. Had God truly forgiven him? What about David in the Bible? Did God forgive him when he asked for forgiveness? (Psalm 51)
Acts 13:22
… he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave their testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will.
I’d say in conclusion here, though I’m sure I will learn many more things on this topic as time goes on, it is easy to see that the world has an entirely different view of what forgiveness means. I’ve looked around the internet and read excerpts from books and magazine articles and the conclusion I make is Forgiveness is of God. Our ability to forgive and forgiveness of our sins… God is the author.
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