By John David Hicks
Preaching on the Lord’s Prayer once, I closed with Jesus’ only interpretation in Matthew 6:14-15, “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” That includes forgiveness toward yourself, as well as others.
A lady after the service and told me this story. “When my mother was dying all of her children were called to her bedside. She asked my two brothers and me to stay with her. For the last three hours she was sound asleep and then she died. The doctor came in and pronounced her dead. We stood by her bed for a little while. Then the monitors she was hooked up to went off with a loud noise and she sat up in bed. We were frightened! The doctor and nurses rushed back in. She ordered everyone out except me. The doctor stood behind a curtain and witnessed what happened next. My mother had accepted Christ as her Savior as a child. But she backslid and never had the sweet presence of Jesus. She had tried to confess her sins, but she could not believe that God had forgiven her. She did not go to church but encouraged us to go. She told me that she had died and came into the presence of Jesus. He told her He was willing to forgive her of all her sin. But she could not go to heaven because she was bitter toward others and would not forgive herself for what she had done. She had to go back and make it right. She asked my forgiveness for having an affair with my husband and being bitter and mean toward me. I told her that I knew about it and I forgave her. She hugged me. She said that now she could accept Christ’s forgiveness and forgive herself. Joy and peace came over her and she died. That is why I believe that, if you are bitter and won’t forgive others or yourself you can’t go to heaven.”
The Bible tells us to “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you (Eph. 4:32). But what if you are the one who needs to forgive yourself?
When you are unforgiving, you get blinded spiritually. Unforgiveness causes you to see things through the eyes of guilt, shame and condemnation. 2 Peter 1:9 NLT tells us, “But those who fail to develop [forgiveness] in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.” Jesus can forgive all your sin, but you must accept it. When you accept God’s forgiveness, He will give you the power to forgive others and yourself (1 John 1:9).