People screw up sometimes.
It happens, and we forgive them (or we’re told to, at least.) We know that when someone does something to or against us, we are called to forgive them as Christ has forgiven us. When asked how many times we were required to forgive our enemies, Christ didn’t say one time, a couple times, or even ten times. His response was seventy times seven times. It’s safe to say that forgiveness is something that can be really hard to do but is always a necessity. A few years ago at Blue Lake camp, the speaker was talking about holding people in unforgiveness and how it really just becomes a burden in your own life. He mentioned that it begins to tear you apart from the inside out, and he compared it to drinking poison with the expectation that somebody else will die. The point he was trying to make was clear: unforgiveness hurts nobody but yourself.
I doubt this is the first time you’ve heard about forgiveness and I can assure you that it won’t be the last. But where I’m taking this may not be what you saw coming. You probably expected a few paragraphs about the importance of forgiving those who do you wrong but that isn’t what I want to talk about at all. Something that I feel is even more important than forgiving others, is the need you have to forgive yourself. Yep, I said it. It is a need to forgive yourself.
When I said people screw up sometimes, I didn’t just mean your friends screw up sometimes or your parents screw up sometimes. I meant PEOPLE screw up sometimes. All of us. And way too often, we recognize our own mistakes and instead of accepting them, praying for forgiveness, and moving on, we dwell. We overthink. We relive. We worry. We fail to forgive ourselves for our own moments of weakness. We fail to acknowledge that we are human beings with human flaws and that no matter what standard our beliefs or morals may hold us to, sometimes we fall short. We fail to see that even though we screwed up it’s okay because the minute we pray to the Creator of the Universe to forgive us for our sins he has already forgotten them. They’re gone, and your slate is clean.
If the King of the Heavens can forgive you for whatever you have done, why can’t you forgive yourself? It’s definitely not an easy question, but it’s something that I face daily. I have struggled to believe that it really is okay and that I am set free from the chains my sin binds me with. But as I thought about what I wanted to say to you, I began to realize that really I’m just tired of living in the depth of my own unforgiveness; it is an exhausting place to be.
Aren’t you? Aren’t you tired of worrying about the moments you can’t redo that your Father in heaven has already forgiven you for? Aren’t you tired of letting the Enemy get away with wreaking havoc on your heart? It’s time to face the fact that when Jesus Christ hung on the cross 2,000 years ago, he didn’t do it so that you could continue to worry about the things you have done in the past. He didn’t do it so that you could tear yourself down. He didn’t do it so that you could shackle yourself with the immeasurable weight of unforgiveness.
Aren’t you? Aren’t you tired of worrying about the moments you can’t redo that your Father in heaven has already forgiven you for? Aren’t you tired of letting the Enemy get away with wreaking havoc on your heart? It’s time to face the fact that when Jesus Christ hung on the cross 2,000 years ago, he didn’t do it so that you could continue to worry about the things you have done in the past. He didn’t do it so that you could tear yourself down. He didn’t do it so that you could shackle yourself with the immeasurable weight of unforgiveness.
He did it so you could LIVE.
He did it so you could be FORGIVEN.
He did it because He LOVES YOU,
and wants you to be able to LOVE YOURSELF.
He did it FOR YOU.
People screw up sometimes. I screw up sometimes. You screw up sometimes.
But you aren’t your mistake.
So don’t let it shape who you become; don’t let it take your light. Remember that you’ve already been forgiven by the Almighty God.
And now it’s time to forgive yourself.
Samantha Reynolds 
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