This may be my favorite post yet y’all. I’ve posted before about forgiving yourself. When I wrote that, I had no intention of looking into what the true biblical meaning of forgiveness is. So let’s dive into that now!

Before I start- this is a post about seeking forgiveness from others and yourself. Before doing this, repent to Christ. Pray and repent to Him so you can truly do these steps with a pure heart. Without that it’s just words with no meaning. 

I met with a sweet friend this week who is truly a light in my life and for lack of better words-refreshing. We sat and had some tough conversations that were needed and so uplifting. She asked me questions about God that I’ve never been asked before and helped me realize what life is supposed to look like biblically. A true reflection of Christ. 

We all know that we are called to love one another as Christ has loved us. What does that look like? I would say first and foremost it’s forgiving. That is Christ right? He literally died to show it. After living the perfect life- not deserving the death that He knew was coming. GOSH that just makes me want to scream the Gospel from the mountains y’all. 

Anyways- what is biblical forgiveness? In order to gain it you must biblically repent. The Bible says that if we sin against someone we are called to go and seek forgiveness. What does that look like? It can be as simple as an “I’m sorry will you forgive me?” Or as deep as “hey I sinned against you and I truly repent for those sins. Will you forgive me?” Talk about biblical. Once you have done that the ball is no longer in your court. If you are truly repenting, your actions will show that and there is no words to continue. That’s not to say you need to prove yourself, but it’s to say that if you’re repentant you will change. If you don’t- you aren’t truly sorry. Now let’s talk about how to forgive the person (or yourself) when someone comes to you like that. 

Biblical forgiveness comes with three promises. The first one being that you accept the apology and you promise to not dwell in the sin. The second one is that you will not bring up the sin to them again. And the final one is that you will not talk about their sins to others. 

That’s a lot. It’s hard to say that hey I won’t dwell in what hurt me really bad. Or that I’m not going to bring it up to that person or others in a moment of weakness. But wanna know something really cool? If or when you do, you can go to that person and seek forgiveness for that. The never ending cycle. What does that remind you of? God’s grace. That’s what. HOW COOL IS THAT!!!! 

Back to the post about forgiving yourself. Do those steps that I have posted- then practice the promises of biblical forgiveness within yourself. When you fail- seek repentance from God and yourself. Tell yourself you’re sorry if you find yourself dwelling on a sin, or talking hateful things to yourself, or belittling yourself to others. I promise you the forgiveness will come so much easier by doing it. 

We have a wonderful outline of forgiveness in the Bible. I challenge you to look into that. Study what biblical forgiveness is. Ask God to show you some things that maybe you haven’t forgiven and thought you have.

Here are some Bible verses that back up my statement on representing Christ through forgiveness. Notice how each one says something along the lines of “hey do this like I do”. That’s pretty cool, I must say.

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

Ephesians 4:32 ESV

“Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”

Colossians 3:13 ESV

“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven.”

Luke 6:37 ESV

“Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.”

Matthew 18:21-22 ESV