The Challenge of being a Disciple Part 3

Forgiving Ourselves
Most of us desire to be used by God. We want to have a positive influence on others around us, we want to use whatever gifts God has given us to build His Kingdom and help those around us.
But so often there is a problem, and that problem is us, our past failures, our thought life and all the doubts and fears than accompany our own lack of self-worth. The Good news is that our worth is based on what we ‘feel’ but instead on Him and what He achieved for us on the Cross.
How can God use someone like me?
The reality is, He can and will if only we will trust Him. When we have a look through the Bible we see God has a very strong track record of using those who have fallen in virtually every area you could imagine.
If you have failed you are in good company!
A lot of people we read about in the Bible made huge mistakes. Abraham, the father of faith and of the Jewish people, lied about his wife twice. His son Isaac did the same thing. Sarah, Abraham’s wife, laughed at the promise of God and then denied that she laughed. Moses killed a man.
Jacob lied and cheated. Noah got drunk. Samson was a serial womaniser. Gideon was fearful. Rahab was a prostitute. Elijah was deeply depressed and didn’t want to live and then Jonah ran from God.
The disciples fell asleep when they should have been praying, Simon Peter openly denied the Lord and Paul went around killing Christians.


We need to realise that Jesus paid the price for all of our sins, and that includes our failures. We need to learn to forgive ourselves, because if we read the scriptures there is some very good news.
The Bible tells us 1 John 1 v 9
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”.


It is time to forgive yourself, to confess your failures, repent of past sin, to ask God to give you the strength to walk in righteousness and then to place your life in His hands and start to walk in His amazing call for your life.