So because we are the children of God, we should not be surprised that we will still sin. Even though inside we are saints…it takes time, effort and a lot of practice to ACT like saints! And so we need to have a lot of mercy on ourselves…the way God does.
While He never condones our sin, He understands that we are still growing into this sainthood and so He is patient with us. The Bible says if we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us. (see 1John 1:9) So every time we mess up, because we will, we turn to God, confess what we did wrong and He forgives, so we can continue to learn and mature in His Love. This is what children do. We learn from our mistakes and become, more and more, mature.
Beating ourselves up is a Prideful, MMI-centric thing, while receiving God’s Mercy frees us from Self! When we are not focused on MMI, we can actually do the right things to bring restitution to the wrong thing we did. We can apologize to someone if we hurt them, for instance, where we will not do so if we are still focused on MMI.
And here’s a bonus: the more mercy we receive from God and use on ourselves, the more mercy we will have to use on others too. Because we see they are just like us: children who are not perfect yet either!
MMI = Me, Myself and I
<>< Peace, Diane
