In my early 30s I had gone through over a year of excruciating physical and emotional pain. One day I was standing in the yard looking out over the sea and reflecting on what I was feeling, and I realized that I was angry at God. This was not welcome news, but I accepted it and started to tell God why I was angry at him. Even though I was afraid to express anger at God I pressed on because I trusted his forgiveness. When I was done there was no sense of rejection from him, on the contrary it was a big release and birthed a deeper relationship with God. It was okay to have my bad and tell him all about it because I had a forgiveness mindset.
It’s interesting how a forgiveness mindset changes our view of ourselves and others. Without a forgiveness mindset our natural attitude towards our faults is to minimize or deny them. Even when we are clearly wrong, we try to justify what we did. We like to blame others for the way we are and think that we couldn’t act much differently. Sometimes we just pretend that faults aren’t there. We do all this to convince ourselves that we are still good people. We can not bear the thought of thinking that we aren’t good because that would mean that we are not valued and should be rejected.
But if we have a forgiveness mindset, and we know our sins are forgiven, then we have the courage to admit our faults and weaknesses. We know that Jesus paid the price for all our sins and weaknesses. His divine death on the Cross means that God made an infinite payment to cancel out all the condemnation and punishment that we deserved (Rom. 8:1; Col. 2:13-14). All our efforts to make up for our sins don’t add anything to what Jesus paid. We might as well give up trying and accept the forgiveness. We just have to “bear” the thought that there is no more condemnation or punishment for us.
With a forgiveness mindset, when we see a fault we are not so afraid of the shame, because no rejection can attach to us anymore. What do I even fear at all? Why should I accuse myself? Why should I beat myself up inside? Who shall make a charge against me or condemn me (Rom. 8:33-34)? That fault can not steal my peace with God. If I commit a sin God does not leave me. I can freely admit it is there. He wants me to confess it to him, and maybe others, so that the disturbance in our unity is wiped away (I John 1:9). But he is always here with me, attracting me with His holy beauty (Heb. 13:5).
“We just have to “bear” the thought that we there is no more condemnation or punishment for us.”
Not only do I not fear my faults and sins, but I actually look forward to discovering them! Why wouldn’t I want to know about something that is tarnishing my relationship with the Infinitely Good One? Why would I want to retain anything in myself that conflicts with the new me that God is cultivating? If I mistreated a close friend I wouldn’t just let it fester, I would mention it and apologize, even if I wasn’t sure they would accept my apology. With God, I know he always accepts my confession, so I invite him to show me all my junk!
When I do see a fault, it’s like discovering a treasure. I have discovered a key to partaking more of God, so it is a huge blessing for God to reveal my sins. Now I have the opportunity to learn how to cooperate with God’s grace as he trains me to leave sin behind and fully embrace the new Adamic me. I will definitely take advantage of this! My soul will prosper and I can be a healthier contributor to my community of the forgiven. This is what a forgiveness mindset leads to.
Do you have a forgiveness mindset for your faults? Do you quickly embrace God’s forgiveness when you identify a fault? Do you feel free to acknowledge your faults because you know you are forgiven?
