(Continued from here)

REASON #5: The temptation to condemn oneself must be met with the exhortation to forgive oneself.

To put succinctly what has already been mentioned, we all know that people can make themselves useless by constantly condemning themselves. While it is important for someone who has been denying his true wrongdoing to eventually come to this point, once a person has been forgiven he must stop the self-condemnation and resume his productive calling serving God and others. If we can speak of a person “condemning himself,” as we all do, then we can speak of a person “forgiving himself.” (Again, I can see ways in which this fact could be misused, but that doesn’t change the facts.)

REASON #6: Condemning others is a way of boasting and trying to exalt oneself, and this is no less true in condemning oneself.

When I meet someone who shows an obvious need to condemn and belittle others for their sins, real or imagined, I suspect that their is a real drive in that person to pass themselves off as superior. We certainly see this in the religious elitists that Jesus had to deal with in the Gospels.

But when a person insists on condemning himself and berates himself and is angry with himself for a longer time than is needful or healthy, we tend to think that the only problem is too much virtue–his conscience is so sensitive and he is so sorry.

But is that really it?

Maybe what is actually happening is the person is trying to show that, even if he did sin, he can now demonstrate how good and worthy and superior he is by being more severe with himself than anyone else is. Being pharisaical with oneself is as sinful as being pharisaical with anyone else. If God tells us to restore people gently (Galatians 6.1), then that includes ourselves.

REASON #7: God wants us to be productive with his gifts rather than burying them by not using them in grattitude.

Jesus told a parable of three stewards and the money they were given at least a couple of times (Matthew 25.14-30 / Luke 19.11-27). The final servant of the three does nothing but return what he had been loaned, having nothing to show for the time he had it. He did not even get bank interest to return with it. As a result, he was condemned.

What if this steward had justified his unfaithfulness by saying, “Master, I know I have done bad things and I was too busy flagellating myself to really figure out how to use your money.” Would he have been excused?

God wants use to use his gifts, not get sidetracked by self-condemnation. That’s why he tells us that we are forgiven.

REASON #8: Refusing to forgive oneself is a slander against God

What the unproductive steward actually said to his master is

Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.

That’s a rather breathtaking insult.  Would anyone really ever say such a thing?

I suspect the point is that when you reject God’s gifts or are too fearful to use them that is what you believe and are communicating about God.  To continue to condemn oneself rather than forgive oneself is to claim that God is really still condemning you and his promises to the contrary are not trustworthy.

REASON #9: If we trust God’s promise to bestow a positive verdict on our service the only rational response is to forgive ourselves and press on in new service to Him.

God does not promise to say to us at the Last Day, “Well, even though you’ve constantly sinned I’ve forgiven you through Christ so I’ll let you in anyway.”  Rather, he promises to say something like, “Well done, good and faithful servant!  Enter into the joy of your master.”

Continuing in self-condemnation, rather than pursuing new service to God with a sincere and confident heart, demonstrates a lack of trust that God will do what he promises.  But God is trustworthy.  Be at ease.