To know God's forgiveness is only one kind (the most important) but our understanding and relationship with "Our Father in Heaven" will dictate how we perceive all other applications of forgiveness.
What do I mean?
We are to "forgive" to be forgiven, but we need to accept forgiveness, especially for ourselves, so we can "be free in Christ" unencumbered by the oppression of "being bound" thereby rendered useless for His Kingdoms works.
This occurred to me on a personal level the other night. I was prayerfully reflecting on my efforts in raising our nine children when this "thought" occurred to me, but came with an oppressive spirit of failure instead of a spirit of joy and accomplishment.
I am not a man that takes lightly to using excuses, (not that I am not carnal and at times do so unwittingly), but ours (my wife and I) were the first generation in our family to "receive Christ and His Gospel" that could be remembered. As you could tell that "the salvation so rich an free" changed the misdirected passion that I had to a direction toward Christ and His Way, Truth and Life/Light. We were told that such severe change of direction would fail and we would return to the worldly ways. We lost a few good friends, (though our friendship was mostly based drinking and activities that could include such), but gained many more and the ones lost were not forsaken on our part but dismissed on theirs.
So wheres this going?
As I reflected on "my responsibilities" as a father and my interactions with our children, I felt that somehow I came up short in the "weighing."
A great preacher (Bill Gothard) once said: "if we are 1% of 100% of the problem, then we are 100% of the 1% and need to take care of that before we can expect the other person to be responsible for their part."
This statement is the glass through which I am looking when I was reflecting on my father/child raising responsibilities the other night.
As I poured over my interactions with our children I felt an oppressive loss or failure as to: "did I do enough? Could I have been more active/intimate? Did I show enough care and concern? What about support? Was enough encouragement given? Were they inspired to follow Godly desires? How are they reflecting over this most precious time of development in their lives? Is there complaint in their hearts? Do they feel that they were let down or given up on?"
These were the major questions that hit my spirit and of course I immediately felt "lacking".
That's when God's Spirit spoke to my heart about my time and effort in the "raising a family" process. We all sin and fall short of the Glory of God. Daily! But God is a redeeming God and life has gone on. When we confess our inability and lack in training, we turn to God to cover our lack and replace it with the grace that is His alone. I was immediately set free when I realized that I live in Him who "is and was and is to come" and the past failures are forgotten and forgiven.
I had to receive forgiveness for myself to be "set free" from the binding thoughts of failure that the "evil one" would use to take me captive and make me incapable of knowing and doing God's will.
Learn to forgive yourself and be free. Don't beat yourself up over the past, learn and move on. When we confess our sins He is faithful to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteous. Then He cast them as far a East is to West, into the forgetful sea.
So should we.........
We have freedom in Christ.
So we can be used to set the captives free.
He whom the Son sets free is free indeed from anything that binds you to make you ineffective for Him.
Love
J&E in Tn
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