Forgiveness is not some lightweight Christian doctrine or a seldom sought-after human want. We all need forgiveness.
As I have been in prison, I have witnessed many individuals, including myself, searching for forgiveness and then learning to live our lives from it. The search mainly includes asking family, friends or a parole board. Yet I learned these searches were secondary, and positive results are not possible until we learn the true source and meaning of forgiveness.
“Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Psalm 51:7-10
Satan wants to keep us trapped in the past, in our guilt, because there we can’t truly confess our sins or be 100 percent transparent with our Father, ourselves or others.
Once I completely surrendered and became totally broken over my sin, I began to grow from the reality of God’s forgiveness, and began to understand and live life from Scripture such as Psalm 51 above and many others including “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). And, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
The best thing we can do for ourselves and others is to forgive and accept forgiveness.
Forgiveness not only heals, but also clears the way for quality of life to love, renew and to restore. This is the grace God gives us even though we have done nothing to deserve it.
While I still pray for some people to forgive me, I can live knowing the joy of forgiveness far outweighs the pleasure and guilt of sin.
“The forgiveness of God is the test by which I myself am judged.” – Oswald Chambers