The real “F” word, part 2 (of 5)

How can I forgive myself?

It has been said that the hardest person to forgive is yourself. True. You can forgive others, sometimes at an instant notice, but why is it so hard to forgive yourself? Maybe you have done a stupid thing in the past. A sin that keeps bothering you. A burden that keeps on pulling you down. A scene in the past that keeps reminding you of what you did.

Fact: God has forgiven you of all of your sins — past, present and future. The reason? Because Jesus decided to offer his life for you 2000 years ago. Your sins were placed on his shoulders because you cannot pay those. But why can’t you feel God’s forgiveness flowing to your veins? Because you haven’t forgiven yourself yet.

How can you move on?

1. Accept what cannot be changed. When you look back at your life, you regret doing some really bad stuff. And unfortunately, they have consequences. Maybe an unwed mom bore a child, or a failed career — because of the sins committed in the past. The reality is, you cannot go back and change what happened. You can only look forward. Let it go. Even how painful it is, you need to bore the consequences of your past sins, learn from it and move on with life.

2. Give it up to God. Whatever that’s holding you back, you have three choices to make: 1) blame yourself (“I’m a pathetic idiot!) 2) blame others (“It is because of you why I’m like this!”) , or 3) give it up to God. You can blame yourself all day long, or point your fingers to others — it’ll be a tiring cycle. Give it up to God, instead. Tell him how sorry you are and let him heal you from your pains.

3. Focus on what is left, not lost. God is a God of second chances. He will turn what you have in your hands into the most powerful tool you can use to move on with your life. King David was an adulterer and a murderer. He repented and moved on with his life. He became one of Israel’s greatest kings, he was called by God as “a man after his own hearts”, and from his clan came the Messiah. Don’t focus on what was lost, focus on what is left.

Related links:
Grace Place podcast – 4giveness part 2, “4giving me”
The real “F” word, part 1

The real “F” word, part 1 (of 5)

Forgiveness.

Yes, that’s the real “F” word.

One thing with forgiveness: we hear a lot about it on Sundays, we talk about it among our friends, and we know its a good thing. But honestly, it’s one of the hardest word to spell if you want to be serious in applying it.

It’s hard to accept and experience God’s forgiveness. Yes, we heard it, God is willing to forgive you. Whatever it is that you have done in the past, God will forgive. And yet, have we really, really, experienced God’s forgiveness?

It’s hard to forgive yourself. Maybe you have done something stupid in the past. You sinned big time. You regret doing it and now you feel guilty and ashamed. It’s a cliche — a friend will tell you, “Dude, move on!” Easy to say, hard to do.

It’s hard to forgive others. Ah, this one’s a classic. It’s easier to forgive Erap or Gloria or Lolit Solis for switching that envelop (if you know what I’m talking about), but forgiving your friend who betrayed you? Or that officemate who keeps on dragging you down? Close relatives that have offended you and your family? Nah!

It’s hard to believe that when I’m forgiven, it’s really “forgiven forever”. It keeps coming back, doesn’t it? You know that God has cleansed you from your sins in the past, even for the sins that you will be committing in the future. But It just seems too good to be true.

Last Sunday at Grace Place, we have started a message series that talks about that “F” word — Forgiveness. As we move towards discussing each aspect of forgiveness every Sunday, I will try to share it here so that you will somehow benefit from it, too.

I’m glad you visited. I hope you’ll be back for more of this thought provoking, challenging series of posts.

False identity, part 3

Who you really are in Christ

If you are a follower of Jesus, whenever the enemy of God attacks you and your self image, remember that you have been redeemed and has been forgiven of your past, present and even of your future sins. Jesus does not condemn you, he never will. No matter what happened in the past, you are accepted. You don’t know what the future holds, but you are secured. You are God’s workmanship. You are important to him and to the body of Christ, the church. God has freed you from the bondage of sin therefore you are free to do good works that you have not even imagined.

You are an heir to his kingdom. You have a special gift that the Holy Spirit has given you when you believed. You are complete in Christ. Yes, he alone completes you — not a man or a woman in a relationship, not your job, not your power, not your possession, only in Christ that you can find completeness.

If you have not yet started a relationship with Jesus, and I’m not talking about that cultural, I-go-to-church-every-other-Sunday-therefore-I-have-a-relationship-with-Christ type of thing. No, the kind that really surrenders your life to your new “boss”, think about this: You are valuable to him. Jesus abandoned heaven to become man and lived among us, died a painful death just so that you can be with him forever. And even if, for instance, you’re the only one who sinned, he will still do that and die for you, just like that shepherd in Jesus’ story who left 99 of his sheep to find 1 that is lost. That’s how important you are. So, what are you waiting for? Say “Yes!” to Jesus and redeem your true identity in him.

False identity, part 2

How to redeem your true identity

It may be hard, but the only way to fight low self image is to discipline yourself to constantly be reminded AND do the following:

1. Change the way you think about yourself. You are easily swayed by people’s opinion about you. You define your self worth by comparing yourself to others. You’ve got to change that kind of thinking. You’ve got to realize that you are NOT what other people say you are. You are NOT the product of your past. You are who God says you are! That truth has to sink in to your heart.

2. Receive your true identity from God. If God is the one who created you, he knows your purpose. He knows your value. No one does. No one can dictate who you really are. It’s God alone. If you really want to know your value and your purpose, don’t “look within yourself” nor allow others to define your value. Look to the One who created you, the One who knows you from the inside out and accept your identity from Him.

How can these basic steps help you redeem your true identity in practical ways?

Next on part 3, “Who you really are in Christ”.

False identity, part 1

Our self concept is distorted — you may not be aware, we are all affected by this problem. Let me show you why.

We get our personal identity through:

1. What other people say about us. As a child, you probably heard a lot about you being “stupid”, or “worthless”. Mean people, even parents unfortunately, tell you things that may just be caused by anger or some mistakes that you did. In effect, we wrongly believe what they say about you.

2. What the media says about us. Ever felt so ugly when watching beautiful women on TV? They seem to look good effortlessly. And, the hard part is, they make you feel that you need to look like them, otherwise, you’re worthless. Media then makes you buy things that you do not like, you do not need and you do not have money to pay for. Just for you to feel good about yourself.

3. What you hear Satan tells you. Oh yes, Satan is real. If you’re hearing negative “voices” in your head, that’s normal. You’re not crazy. It’s just the enemy of God falsely telling you you’re not good enough, worthless, unlovable. Believe him and you loose your self image.

The key thought for this series of post is this: You are NOT what other people think you are, you are NOT what media say you are, you are not what Satan says you are. You are what GOD says you are.

What of these three identity theft can you most identify with?