For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. – Matthew 6:14
When past injustices have caused you pain, you often seek to bury them in the deep recesses of your mind. It’s not the way to handle things, however, and almost always when you bury things, it allows your pain from the past to translate into mistakes and suffering in the future. You become powerless against the strength of your inner turmoil and can lose control of the very feelings you’ve tried to hide.
What do you do to distract yourself from unresolved pain? There may be strong emotions that you don’t know how to process appropriately, so you simply try to stuff them down inside. Eventually these feelings are expressed in one way or another. Be honest about your past hurts, express your feelings, confront when necessary, and work through forgiveness, it’s probably the most important thing to learn to do.
– Steve Arterburn
I think if God forgives us we must forgive ourselves. Otherwise it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than Him. – C. S. Lewis
