Guidelines For Living

Narrator: Take a break from your busy schedule and join Harold Sala for Guidelines for Living.

Harold Sala: God has forgiven me, but I just can't forgive myself. You may never have said that, but perhaps you have thought it. You can do one of two things. You can go through life constantly defeated, or else you can follow the guidelines of scripture that will tell you how to forgive yourself once and for all.

Guideline one: Acknowledge the promise of God to forgive your sin. This guideline means you get out your Bible and a pen and start marking passages, such as First John chapter one, verse nine, Micah 7:13, Isaiah 43, verse 25, which says, “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake and remembers your sins no more.”

You must realize that the promises of God's word rest upon his nature and character. He cannot lie, and therefore you can count on him to honor the promises of his word. Simply put, he promised to forgive you if you will come to him and ask for forgiveness, which brings us to our next step, Guideline two: Confess your sin once and for all.

It is right here that you must believe that what God said is true and that he will not lie. If you have made confession of the same thing part of your daily prayer, then stop insulting God by asking him to do the same thing day after day.

Guideline three: Thank God for his forgiveness. But I don't feel anything, you might say. It is right here that a lot of people go astray. They pour out their hearts in scalding confession and feel wonderful, but then a few days later, they start thinking about their failure, and their emotions get into the picture. The guilt they once felt comes back and they do not feel God has heard them.

Hold steady. The promises of God are not true if you feel something. They are true because of the nature and character of God. Forgiveness is never predicated on how you feel, rather it was made possible by Christ's death. Therefore, regardless of the temperature of your heart, you must say, "Father, thank you that you have heard me. I thank you that your word is true. Thank you, you cannot lie. I know you have forgiven me not because of how I feel, but because your word is true."

Then follow Guideline number four: Refuse to let your mind dwell on that which is forgiven by God. Satan is alive and well, and he knows that if he can bring your failure to your mind often enough and get you thinking about it, you will be defeated.

Years ago, King George V of Britain grew quite fond of a young man who worked in the stable. When the King noticed that the lad was missing, he inquired as to his whereabouts. Sadly, the head groom reported that he had been caught stealing oats from the royal garner and had been fired. “Send for the boy,” ordered the king. When the lad finally stood in front of the King, he asked, “Son, did you do it?” Too humiliated to speak, the boy nodded his head.

Finally, the King said, “I forgive you.” Then turning to the head groom, the King said, “I want this boy restored to his former position, and I never want this mentioned again. Do you hear? Never again.” That is a beautiful picture of what God's forgiveness really is. He told us that he has decided not to remember what you have done. So dwell on that word forgiven, forgiven, and thus you can forgive yourself as well.

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