If God Can Forgive Us We Must Forgive Ourselves

 

C. S. Lewis, “I think that if God forgives us we must forgive ourselves. Otherwise it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than Him.”

Letter to Miss Beckenridge, April 19,1951

The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis. Volume III: Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy 1950–1963. Ed. Walter Hooper. San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 2007: 109.

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As the evil we've committed becomes more apparently evil to us, so too does the temptation to despair of ever being without the weight of that evil. Despair tries to lure us into a place of hopelessness, of no longer believing. We begin to think that our evil selves can never be forgiven, we're just too evil for that to happen.  

What we are doing is recognizing that we are powerless. Despair wants us to let that powerlessness we feel makes us despondent.  Christ wants us to let that powerlessness make us feel DEPENDENT upon Him, and His ability to forgive us. 

We must allow ourselves to comprehend the depths of Christ's ability to forgive us. He is the power in our lives, we are powerless in and of ourselves. We aren't going to gain our own powers outside of Christ's to fix ourselves, not ever. Christ will forever be the power that forgives and brings hope to our hopelessness. 

If you begin to fall prey to hopelessness try to recognize at once that you are looking to yourself for hope and not to Christ, where your ONLY hope exists. 

So, how do we truly believe in Christ's forgiveness when Satan and his minions are constantly reminding us of how very awful our sins are? I read once somewhere that Satan only brings up the sins that are forgiven already, because he doesn't want us to notice any sins we haven't asked forgiveness for. He'll terrorize us with our forgiven sins, why? Because as already mentioned, he wants to bring us to despair, to hopelessness that will keep us from truly believing in Christ's forgiveness.

To not forgive ourselves is in reality believing that Christ can't forgive us. 

It's only through HIS forgiving us that we are able to forgive ourselves. You will never find true forgiveness in and of yourself, without Christ forgiving you first. You forgiving yourself means nothing. 

If Christ has forgiven you, and you've forgiven yourself because He has, it won't mean that you won't feel the weight of that sin ever again. Satan will try to make sure we feel the weight, hoping to lead us eventually down his path. Satan won't stop trying to tempt us to take our eyes off God and put them on ourselves. 

What better way is there for Satan than to hold up the horrors of our past in front of us, slapping a sticker on them that reads - UNFORGIVEN. Satan wants us to believe because we see the sin in our memories, because we feel the weight of that sin, that it isn't forgiven.  

To God, our sins are GONE once they are truly repented of, and forgiveness is sought, all by the blood of Jesus Christ.

Yes, I said those sins are gone. The punishment that sin stands for no longer exists, it's been paid in full.  This is FAITH. And it is faith in Christ's righteousness, NOT OURS.

To think we have any power within us to forgive ourselves and make ourselves whiter then snow, is ludicrous. 

When we say we are forgiving ourselves what we are really saying is … we accept and believe Christ forgives us and that is more than enough.

Don't forget God forgives us our sins as we forgive others. The Lord's Prayer doesn't read- He forgive us our sins as we forgive ourselves. 

C.S. Lewis stating…  “I think that if God forgives us we must forgive ourselves. Otherwise it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than Him.”

… is speaking truth, because GOD forgives us first and we accept that we are forgiven by Him, or else, we are negating God's forgiveness and trying to find another way to be forgiven, our own way. 

We must forgive others as completely as we want God to forgive us- giving those who have sinned against us to God to judge while we step back out of the picture completely. We forgive them because we ourselves need forgiveness.  We tell them that we are sinners too, just like they are. They are in need of God's forgiveness, just like we are.

If we had no sin at all in our lives we could condemn them, we would not have to forgive them… but our sins have condemned us, and we need forgiveness.  We recognize we are sinners and our seemingly white lying sinning, might be more deep down evil than their blatant sins that seem atrocious on a level of depravity we are sickened by.  

Sinners one and all. We MUST forgive those who sin against us if we are to believe Christ can forgive us our sins.  That sin, all sin, warrants death. The wages of sin is death-- all sin. 

The gift of God is eternal life through, Jesus Christ our Lord.    Romans 6:23

If you really believe God has forgiven you, then you must believe in that forgiveness,  not hold onto to your sins believing you aren't forgiven, because if you do then you are calling God a liar. 

Choosing not to forgive yourself is making yourself a god thinking you should have the power to forgive yourself.

When Satan gift wraps our forgiven sins in a box- our terrible, horrific, awful, disgusting, disgraceful, incomprehensible sins, and hands that box to us, we have to rip off the wrapping paper, open it up, hold it upside down, shake it and watch nothing fall out as we tell Satan, it's empty- our sins are forgiven. 

We might have to do that several times a day for who knows how long. Satan won't stop trying to use our forgiven sins against us, not ever. 

After showing Satan that empty box, pull out your gift box from God and tell Satan, God's gift supersedes any gift of his, God's gift is FORGIVENESS THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.  

Cling to the gift of God tightly and never let go!