We talk a lot about forgiveness and offering it to others, but what if the person you hurt is yourself? How do you stop living in the past with your failures?

You have been called to freedom and peace. Peace is within your grasp but you have to pursue it intentionally. This isn’t just peace with others but peace within your own mind. When you turn toward Jesus and stop relying on yourself, you are given the power to take every thought captive. Start believing and living into the power you have been given.

Shame is not of God.

Guilt motivates us to do and be better but shame is sticky. Guilt points out a mistake and a better direction, it points us to God’s love and does not condemn. Shame is a pit we fall down that tells us we are unworthy and there is nothing better.

The truth is that when God sees you, he sees Christ. We are all broken and in need of a savior. Your past failures are merely evidence that you, like everyone else, are human.

In the past

At the very beginning of the Bible, in Genesis 3, sin entered the world. When Adam and Eve did the one thing they were told not to do they felt ashamed and hid from God. But no one can hide from God. Natural consequences followed, just as they do for us.

God never told Adam and Eve to be ashamed. He called Adam and Eve from hiding and addressed their sin head-on.

Jesus was sent to bare our sins publicly and declare that the price has been paid. Does this mean that there are no ramifications for our actions here on earth? Absolutely not. Choices have consequences. But friend, we bear those burdens together.

Forgiveness

Just as we are called to forgive one another we are to forgive ourselves. You have already been forgiven – past, present, and future. God’s love is unending and relentless, there is nowhere it cannot reach you.

Stop believing you will never measure up or that you are unworthy. Forgive yourself; let it go, because when you accept Jesus, it has already been forgiven.

When you stay in your thoughts regarding your past failures you are your biggest hindrance. Stop granting power to something that God has already declared victory over.

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