The Right to Move On

We always hear people talk about forgiving others and letting go of the wrong people have done to us. We know that forgiving others is for our own benefit; not merely the benefit of others. Many may say, “I’ve forgiven everyone who has hurt me or done me wrong.” That may be true, but have you forgiven yourself?

It’s so easy to recognize when someone else has hurt us and to determine that we need to forgive them so that we don’t carry bitterness in our hearts. Have you thought about the guilt, shame and bitterness that are within you when you fail to forgive yourself? Maybe someone didn’t wrong you, but instead you wronged them. Perhaps you didn’t do all you should’ve done a few years ago and now you’re not where you want to be today because of what you didn’t do in your yesterday. Maybe it’s that you weren’t there for someone when you should’ve been. All of these things can leave us feeling guilty or depending on what it was, shameful.

Let me make an announcement to you all: You have the right to move on! If you have acknowledged what you’ve done wrong, repented and have extended a genuine apology to the deserving party; you have the right to move on with your life. Don’t continue to beat yourself up about what you did or didn’t do in your past. It is a waste of time to pine away about something you do not have the ability to go back in time to change. It happened (or didn’t happen) and there isn’t anything we can do to change that fact. As for others trying to make you feel guilty about something you’ve genuinely repented for, they can’t make you feel that way once you’ve truly forgiven yourself. If they refuse to forgive you, shame on them. If you refuse to forgive you, shame on you!

God has given no one on earth the right to keep someone oppressed about what they did wrong in their past; no one! It doesn’t matter how bad it was, if you’ve received God’s forgiveness for it and you’re moving in a positive direction, you have the right to no longer feel guilty. If others have a problem with that, that has now become their problem with God Himself; not you. Luke 6:37 tells us that if we condemn others it will all come back against us. That confirms that none of us has the authority to condemn anyone else.

Do yourself a favor and let yourself live. Let go of the hurt, shame and guilt that you’ve been holding onto against yourself. Holding onto those things will not change the past, but they will cripple your present which eventually becomes your future. You can’t make yesterday better, but you can make today better and you’ve been granted the right to do so. Do yourself a favor and let go so that you can live and live abundantly!

~Miss Jennipher~