[Steve Myers] Have you ever had trouble forgiving yourself? There's a man in the Bible who probably had that same problem.  His name was Saul of Tarsus, and when God called him he had to deal with the fact that he persecuted God's church. The man must have been able to forgive himself because he became the Apostle Paul, seemed to write most of the letters of the New Testament. He's an amazing example for us because he had to have dealt with this burning issue that he probably even contributed to the death of some of God's very own people.

We tend to hold things against ourselves at times, and I wonder if we look at things the way that God wants us to. There's a passage in the beginning of 2 Peter, 2 Peter chapter 1 and near the beginning of this particular section of scripture Peter goes through a number of characteristics that we're to put on as godly traits, godly character that we should exhibit in our lives. And then as he draws a conclusion to those characteristics he says something interesting. He says this - and this is from the Voice translation - it says, "If you don't have these qualities, then you'll be nearsighted and blind forgetting that your past sins have been washed away" (2 Peter 1:5-9).

Have you ever thought that not forgiving ourselves, not taking God's forgiveness that He's given to us and not taking it and understanding that our sins are forgiven can hold us back from the blessings that God has in store? Or maybe saying it a different way that forgiveness is a powerful tool to overcome evil, and that if we don't forgive ourselves, if we don't take that gift of forgiveness from God, then we are withholding good in our own life.

So God extends that gift to us when we repent and we change. God gives us that gift of forgiveness. We have to take that gift. We can't discount that gift, and we have to unwrap it and use that gift that God's given us much in the same way that the Apostle Paul did, able to overcome because that forgiveness is more powerful than sin.

So don't ever forget that, that God's gift of forgiveness is more powerful than sin. So let's take that gift of God and accept that gift of forgiveness, and we can go onto great things.

That's BT Daily. We'll see you next time.