How often do we hold onto guilt for our sins long after everyone else has moved on? Instead of learning from our mistakes and moving forward, why do we wallow in our despair?

I know that this is a terrific challenge for me. Sometimes I wonder if I get some enjoyment from wallowing in my past mistakes, since I spend so much time doing it instead of fixing the problem and forgetting it.

It’s important for us to learn from past mistakes so that we don’t repeat them in the future. Yet once we’ve learned, we need to move forward. Wallowing in the past will keep us stuck in the past and incapable of moving into the fresh start God has planned for us in the present.

Today’s verses remind me that God, in His infinite wisdom, forgives our sins in the blink of an eye because He can see the big picture. He knows that we have an entire lifetime to make mistakes and do better. Sometimes we will fail, but if we accept responsibility, ask forgiveness, and go forward to do better, we will mature as individuals.

Let us accept God’s forgiveness and forgive ourselves at the same time. After all, if you forgave a friend for some transgression, wouldn’t you feel offended if the next time you saw them, they were still dwelling on the same issue?

God sees us as He created us, with all our faults but also with all our strengths and beauty. After all, we are His children.

The Lord said to Moses,

“How long will these people treat Me with contempt?

How long will they refuse to believe in Me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them?

I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.”

~Num 14:11

Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.

~Matthew 21:21