“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness…if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”1 John 1:9, 2:1a

Because if He’s forgiven me, then He can surely forgive those who hurt me. And if I claim His forgiveness then I must live His forgiveness towards others or I’m claiming falsely.

So how do I look around me and see with people with Jesus’ eyes?
How do I look at a confessed hurt and see the sinner as clean and holy before God?
But if I can accept His forgiveness for me then why can’t I for others?

But some days, it’s even harder than that. Some days I can’t even see myself as forgiven…as pure…as righteous in Jesus.
How do I look at myself in the mirror and see myself whole and holy?
How?

And the how is never easy. I want a one-step answer, a short sentence fix-all for the lies my heart believes. But I’m finding that in my heart, it’s never quite that simple…but it’s always that worth it.

It takes wrestling.
It takes reading and rereading that truth I’ve heard over and over for years.
It takes speaking truth to myself, reading truth to myself, writing truth to myself over and over…always praying that I will believe it.

And I do this daily…preaching it to my hard heart and, yes, telling myself out loud “This.is.true.”

Over and over
And I pray and I wrestle and I preach it hard to my hardened heart. And God’s Word, His truth, can soften anything if I just let it…if I just press hard into it. If I let it press hard into me.

So I keep preaching it hard and clear and pounding that truth into my head and heart and when I finally commit to preaching it loud and hard and not giving up till I believe it, I’m always amazed at how quickly the faith comes.

Because He calls us to press in.
He calls us to meditate on His Word.
He calls us to believe even when we can’t feel it and I don’t know when we started thinking that’d be easy or that He would do it all for us when we prayed a few magic words.

When I’ve finally stood up to the lies and preached the truth to my doubting heart I’ve found incredible freedom.
Freedom to to see myself as wholly forgiven and holy before Him.
And when I can see that for myself, I’ve found that I can see that for others.

I can forgive others, not when I forgive myself, but when I learn to see myself as forgiven by Him.

{Today I’m linking up with Kerrie from Life On A Mission, Kerry from Glory in the Valley, and Danielle from Davie and Danielle for the “Hello…my name is _________” link up. The goal of this gathering is to “put a name to the lies we allow ourselves to believe, toss off the false labels we’ve placed on ourselves or let others place on us, and claim our true identities in Christ!” I’m so excited to join and I hope you will click the image above to go read the posts from the these ladies and others who join.}

Hello…My name is Whole and Holy.

Be blessed
<3