Important lessons

Over the past few months, I have really been struggling with my sense of self-worth.  I have always been a people-pleaser, but it has really been recently that I've realized how much I allow peoples' opinions of me (or what I perceive to be their opinions) to dictate how I feel about myself.  I have put my trust and sense of self-worth in the wrong things, and when I felt like those things were stripped away, I came away feeling empty, inadequate, and like a total failure.  The Lord has been reminding me that I need to put my trust in Him alone, and remember who I am in Him. 

As I have gone to Scripture to regain that understanding, this is the main point that I have come away with: I have been bought with a price.  I am a ransomed child of God.  That's all that matters - and in light of that, I shouldn't put myself down or let other peoples' opinions of me decide what I am.  I shouldn't be arrogant, but I can have confidence in who I am in Christ.

With that lesson, though, I have learned another one as well.  Forgiveness.  I have been brought back to Jesus' parable of the unforgiving servant, as well as to Colossians 3:13, which says "as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive."  I have been bought with a price, and forgiven...and so just as I have been forgiven, so I also must forgive.  It has all been hitting me at once, it seems, but recently I realized that I have been holding on to hurts from years ago - petty things, really - and as cliche as it sounds, I know that my bitterness is really only hurting me. 

Bitterness and passing judgment on others is not worth it, at all.  God is judge, and only He knows the motives in our hearts.  We cannot control the way other people act toward us, but we are absolutely responsible for our own actions.  This doesn't mean we should turn a blind eye when people do things that are wrong.  I am extremely thankful for the friends and family I have who over the years have been willing to lovingly confront and correct me.  Those who didn't condemn me, but gently pointed out my mistakes - they are my best friends, and I will be eternally grateful to them for helping me grow.

So here's to letting go, and learning (with the Lord's help) to forgive...because God knows I have been forgiven MUCH.