While we know that the Bible talks a lot about the importance of forgiving others, we often struggle with the concept of forgiving ourselves. When we are forced to look at ourselves in the context of our most painful moments, it’s hard for us to move on. However, when God forgives us, we are completely forgiven. Today, discover how to get to the other side of failure in your quest to move beyond the pain of your past.
Romans 8:1-3 (NLT)
So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.
There are a could universal truths about sin. First of all, we all have a sinful nature. As soon as you are old enough to know right from wrong (a concept that many believers refer to as “the age of accountability”), you have a natural tendency to veer towards the wrong. When you were a child, if you broke a rule, you probably lied to try to get yourself out of trouble. As we get older, we continue with a natural mindset that pushes us towards the wrong.
Secondly, sin always produces shame. This is because of the internal conflict that we are all constantly engaged in. Our spirit knows that sin is wrong, but our flesh pushes us towards it. This is why Jesus said, “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). Our flesh pushes us toward sinful desires while our spirits push us toward Christ. When we allow the flesh to give into temptation in its weakness, we suffer the shame associated with it.
In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve recognized that they were naked immediately after they committed the first sin. This led to shame. In fact, the first couple was so overcome by shame that they tried to hide from God when He came to the garden. Our shame produces a wedge between us and God. We try to hide from Him because we fear His wrath while He pursues us with His grace and mercy.
Today, discover more about what it means to move past your past and truly forgiving yourself. When God forgives you, He does so completely. He doesn’t hold grudges, and there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. The condemnation that you’re feeling is coming from Satan, the enemy of your soul. Today, you can overcome that.
David
Psalm 51:10-12 (NLT)
Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.
The story of David and Bathsheba, which history teaches us was the inspiration for this Psalm, can be found in 2 Samuel 11. While it’s a good idea to go back and read it in detail for yourself, we will take a broad look at the events that prompted David’s cry for forgiveness here.
David had sent the army of Israel out to war, and he stayed back at the palace. That was his first mistake. In those days, it was absolutely unheard of for a king not to join his troops in battle. While we would never think of a president or a prime minister physically leading his or her troops into war, that’s how things worked in the Bible. David’s first mistake was being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
While David was out of position, he saw a woman bathing on a roof. That wasn’t uncommon, as that’s how people heated their water. After asking about her (she was beautiful and caught his attention), David found out she was married. That should have been the end of his pursuit, but he sent for her, slept with her, and got her pregnant. David’s sins were starting to stack up.
He made things worse when he was motivated by shame and set a plan into motion to cover up what he had done. He sent for her husband (who was in his army) and brought him to the palace. He got the man drunk and tried to send him home. He figured if he could get the man (named Uriah) to sleep with Bathsheba (his wife), he could cover up what he had done. When Uriah refused to go, David set him up to be murdered. Once Uriah had been killed, David married Bathsheba. For all intents and purposes, the sin was covered up. However, there were consequences. The child wound up dying of an illness shortly after his birth.
God didn’t give up on David. That’s remarkable when you consider that David was a lusting, adulterous, drunken, murderer by the time he wrote Psalm 51. However, God forgave David and allowed him to remain as the King of Israel. Why? Because there is grace and there is purpose on the other side of failure, even when the failure isn’t known about by everyone else.
Peter
Acts 2:14-15 (NLT)
Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, “Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this. These people are not drunk, as some of you are assuming. Nine o’clock in the morning is much too early for that.”
Unlike David, there was no covering up Peter’s failure. On the night of Christ’s arrest, Peter publicly denied having ever met Jesus. Jesus had told Peter that things would transpire that way, and Peter refused to believe it. In fact, Peter went so far as to say that he would die alongside Christ before he denied him. However, when the rubber met the road, Peter did exactly what Jesus told him he would do.
After Christ was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, the disciples were thrown into a state of chaos. Left with no leader and faced with the fear that they could be next, they scattered. While John remained close to Christ throughout the duration of the trial and crucifixion, Peter opted to follow from a distance. It didn’t take long for people to start asking Peter if he was one of the disciples. Some of them went so far as to say that they had seen Peter with Jesus before. The first denial came, then the second. Finally, Peter was so overwhelmed by the stress of the moment that he started using profanity, denying that he had ever even met Jesus.
Everything Jesus had told Peter would happen happened, and then, their eyes met. Jesus, scared of the pain that was ahead of Him locked eyes with Peter, riddled with guilt and shame. Would things ever be the same again? Peter had publicly fallen. Even Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus had done so with some level of secrecy. Peter’s fall was massive, and it was public.
However, weeks after Christ’s return to Heaven, Peter was the disciple who stood up on the Day of Pentecost and preached the sermon that would launch the New Testament Church that we are a part of today. Why? Because there is grace, mercy, and purpose on the other side of failure.
If God could forgive David and Peter, and if God could continue to use both of them, there is no failure behind you that is so big that it disqualifies you from purpose and relationship with God.
A Closing Prayer:
Heavenly Father, help me to move past the pain of my past. Remind me of Your loving kindness, which is far greater than anything that I have ever done before. Thank You for forgiving and loving me. In Christ’s name, Amen.