As I was driving Kalen to pre-school today, Jon Foreman’s “Your Love is Strong” came on the iPod. As I listened to my two-year-old sing out the refrain again and again, I couldn’t help but think of the power behind what she was actually singing.

Many people live miserable. My wife, Liz, works in the pharmacy for one of the major retail chains. She always tells me about the sheer amount of people taking anti-depressants or anti-anxiety medicines. I don’t want to minimize the need for these medications when the need warrants, but it can’t be that many people “needing” it.

Many people define themselves by their mistakes, just as we define others by theirs. For example, let’s look at our last 3 presidents: Bush 1, Clinton and Bush 2. What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear their names? “Read my lips,” Monica Lewinsky and Iraq War blunders. However, if you look at them objectively (meaning outside of your political views and not everyone can do that), they did a lot of good for our country. It’s not fair to define a person solely by their failure. But on a personal level, we tend to let our failures define us.

It’s true what they say, “It’s not about falling down, but getting back up.” Let’s break that down though. What gives you the power to get back up? The grace of God provided by the death and resurrection of Jesus. By not getting back up, wallowing in or medicating your failures, you are really saying that God can’t cover what you did… that Jesus blood wasn’t enough. We’d never say that… but so many live that.

There is a freedom that comes in forgiveness. It’s powerful. If you’ve ever seen someone set free from bitterness and resentment, it’s an amazing thing. People carry those weights for years and years. The people in the New Testament were a forgiven bunch. Peter denied knowing Jesus 3 times. Mary Magdalene was said to be a prostitute. Paul oversaw the systematic murder of Christians. People just like you and me… forgiven. 

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus said, “Forgive our sins as we forgive those who sinned against us. (Matthew 6:12)” And in Luke 6:37, he said, “Stop judging others, and you will not be judged. Stop criticizing others, or it will all come back on you. If you forgive others, you will be forgiven.” Finally, in John 20:23, “If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you refuse to forgive them, they are unforgiven.”

Many have difficulty just meeting this in the atmosphere of community and dealing with others, but what about yourself. “Forgive and you will be forgiven.” God has forgiven you, but have you forgiven yourself? Or are you still holding on to that failure?

God’s love is strong. It’s big enough for whatever you did. Give it to Him and let it die. When we teach about baptism, we say that it is a symbol of and old life dying and a new life beginning. In other words, it’s done. Forgive yourself, just as God has forgiven you.

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“Forgiveness is the remission of sins. For it is by this that what has been lost, and was found, is saved from being lost again.” – Saint Augustine (354-430)