2020-06-08 Coffee with Chris - Forgive Yourself

The speaker discusses the topic of forgiveness, emphasizing the importance of forgiving oneself. They share a personal experience of continually seeking forgiveness from others and feeling the need to ask for forgiveness repeatedly. The speaker then reflects on a conversation with God, where they are told to forgive themselves and accept God's forgiveness, regardless of whether others forgive them or not. They highlight that Jesus' sacrifice on the cross allows for the forgiveness of sins and encourages living as a forgiven individual with joy and the willingness to forgive others. The speaker also mentions the biblical parable of a man who is forgiven a large debt but refuses to forgive a small debt owed to him, emphasizing the importance of forgiving others. They conclude by urging listeners to seek forgiveness and choose to live as forgiven individuals. Good morning and welcome to Coffee with Chris. Today I'm using a mug that Hannah gave me. Look at those cute little owls. Today I want to talk about forgiving ourselves. You know, we talk about forgiveness. It's important to talk about forgiveness. It's honorable to ask for forgiveness as a lot of people don't ask for forgiveness when they should. But have you ever been in a situation where you've asked someone for forgiveness? They've even forgiven you. And you continue to ask that person for forgiveness. Maybe it's that exact moment. You're like, oh, please forgive me. And they're like, yeah, you know, it's okay. I forgive you. And you just keep going on. Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Or maybe it's another time later where you're like, do you remember that time? I'm really sorry for that time. And you just keep bringing it up. We've been through this. We're okay, you know. And so one of the things, I've had a situation where I have continued to ask certain people for forgiveness. And it's an issue that's long since passed. I have been feeling like I keep needing to ask them for forgiveness over and over and over again. And this morning I was talking to God in the shower. And I really felt like he was telling me like, Christopher, you need to ask yourself for forgiveness. You need to forgive yourself. Verbalize it. Go through the motions. Even if it feels silly. But you need to forgive yourself. That's the biggest thing here. He was saying, I have forgiven you, Christopher. And it doesn't matter if anybody else forgives you or not. So the only one holding you back right now is yourself. The only one who is affecting you that has not accepted that forgiveness is you. See, the thing is, Jesus came. He died on the cross for us so that we could be forgiven of sins. And then the rest is up to us. It's a choice to accept that forgiveness or to live as if we've not been forgiven. To live like we still need to measure up. To live like we still need to earn our salvation, our pardon, and all that. You know, I'm not saying that we shouldn't work on improving ourselves, work on doing better, work on reconciliation. I'm not saying we shouldn't try and clean up our messes. You know, even if we've been forgiven, there's still consequences of our actions. And we still have a responsibility to do what we can when possible to try and fix the damage that's been done. You can't always do that, though. And you can't drive yourself crazy trying. But where you can be responsible for the situation you should be. We also have to recognize that ultimately the forgiveness for sins lies in Jesus' hands. And that that was a radical thing. When people heard Jesus say that he would forgive sins, they were like, who do you think you are? Are you crazy? That was an insane concept. You know, we've had times in history where people thought you could buy your forgiveness. We've had all these things. But the truth of the matter is, Jesus died on the cross to take that penalty, to take that payment for sin, so that we could be forgiven. We need to accept it. You need to accept it. And accepting it is not just a verbal thing, saying, I accept that God has forgiven me. It's living it out. It's living as a forgiven and redeemed individual. Living with the joy that we have been forgiven. Living with the knowledge that we have been forgiven. And living as a forgiven person that forgives others. You know, the Bible talks about a parable where a guy owed a great debt to the king. The king forgave the debt because the guy pleaded with him. And then as soon as the guy left, he found somebody owed him like a couple bucks and was like, well, you can't pay it. I'm throwing you in jail. So when the king heard this, he's like, are you kidding me, bro? Like, I forgave you of so much and this person owed you like a couple bucks and you wouldn't forgive it? No, I'm throwing you in jail. The Bible says that if we forgive one another, that we will be forgiven. If we don't, we will not be forgiven. That's pretty huge. I think you and I are also a one another that we need to forgive. Because we are both made in the image of God. And we should not be holding something over the head of someone who's made in the image of God when God sent his very own son to die for you and I. So let's think about that today. If there's something that's been bugging you and bugging you and you feel like, oh, maybe it's that person that needs to forgive me and then I would have closure. Maybe that person's passed away and you don't have that opportunity. Maybe that person refuses to forgive and you don't have that opportunity. Maybe that person has forgiven and yet you just don't feel forgiven. Ask the Lord about it today and choose to forgive yourself and live as a forgiven person. God bless.