Forgiveness

Hello everyone and welcome back to Leaving Lesser! I’m so happy that you are here! Today we are going to be discussing forgiveness. This is one of the foundations of our faith because without forgiveness no one would ever make it to Heaven. We all know that God loves us and sent His only begotten son to be offered as a sacrifice so that we have the opportunity to be forgiven of everything we have ever done or will do wrong! 1 John 1:9 ESV says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We are all unrighteous sinners and do wrong every single day but God stills forgives us, over and over and over, no matter what, as long as we confess our sins to Him and ask for forgiveness. It doesn’t matter if we are liars, thieves, adulterers, murderers, drug addicts, alcoholics, abusers, whatever we are, we all have an equal opportunity to be forgiven! Praise the Lord! Now the Bible doesn’t just speak of God forgiving us but Jesus also tells us to forgive others. Ephesians 4:31-32 KJV (Apostle Paul speaking) says, “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” This doesn’t just necessarily mean to forgive those who have asked for your forgiveness, but because Christ has forgiven us, we should show forgiveness and kindness to others, like Jesus has done for us. Like the golden rule, Luke 6:31 NIV, says, “do to others as you would have them do to you.” Enough said! We ask God for forgiveness so we should forgive others, we expect others to be kind to us so we should be kind to them, we wish someone would give us help so we should help others. “Ask and you shall receive, give and it shall be given unto you.” Matthew 7:7. Matthew 6:14-15 KJV says,”For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” So therefore forgiving others isn’t just expected but required of us in order to receive forgiveness ourselves. Now, I know that it is very hard to forgive some people but I can tell you, from personal experience, that you will feel so much better when you let go of all of the anger and hatred that you’ve stored up within your heart. Romans 3:23 (KJV) says “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”. So when we’re having trouble forgiving others it might be beneficial to remember that no one is perfect and maybe forgiving someone who has wronged you will help them to see Jesus in you and lead them closer to Him. Remember we are all imperfect people waiting for perfect eternal peace, and in order to find it we must forgive and be forgiven. Not only should we forgive others but it is also important to forgive yourself! This is something that I struggle because it is so easy to feel unworthy of such great forgiveness but when you are hanging on to all the sin you’ve carried in your life it will weigh you down and keep you from your perfect peace. It will allow the devil to sneak in and whisper lies into your ears telling you that you aren’t good enough, or you aren’t worthy of forgiveness, or that you can’t offer forgiveness to others because you can’t even forgive yourself. Just lay it all at Jesus’s feet, tell Him, He will forgive you and you can forgive yourself. Nothing you have ever done is too great for God. Moses was a murderer (Exodus 2:11), David was an adulterer (Samuel 11), Paul persecuted the church, Rahab was a prostitute, God forgave them all and allowed them to do incredible things! Just a small list of great sinners in the Bible saved by God’s grace! There are so many other sinners mentioned in the Bible saved and called to do great things in the name of the Lord! So when you feel like your sin is too great to be forgiven, remember, God calls sinners like you and I. He calls us to confess our sins, to lay it all at His feet and to be forgiven. Matthew 11:28-30 KJV says, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” I pray that this post has touched someone’s heart today. I pray that you have been able to lay it all at Jesus’ feet, asked for forgiveness and forgiven yourself because no sin is too great for God. I pray that you have been able to find room in your heart to forgive someone today as Christ has forgiven you. I pray that you have gained a deeper understanding on why and how to forgive and be forgiven. I pray that you have grown closer to God while reading this post and that you feel His presence surrounding you. I pray that you were able to leave a little bit of the lesser you behind to grow greater in Christ. Thank you for joining me as we studied about forgiveness, I hope that this has encouraged you today!

       ~Love and Prayers,
                Nadene

P.S. Please feel free to leave any comments with verses or testimonies that you may have regarding forgiveness. I love hearing from you!