If you were to make a list of the people who have hurt you, how long would it be? Are there some people on that list whom you’ve struggled to forgive for a while? Maybe you thought you could forgive them, but then hurt wells up. Or you see them again, and your old friend resentment starts knocking on the door of your heart. Do you find you need to forgive again, pray again, ask God to help you love them again?

I saw a reel on Instagram a few weeks back that has stuck with me. A man asked, “If you were to make a list of all the things you were grateful for, how long would it take you to put yourself on that list?” I’m not sure many of us would ever put ourselves on that list.

I’m not sure many of us would ever put ourselves on the list of people we need to forgive either, but we should. Of all the people you’ve forgiven, have you forgiven yourself?

If only you hadn’t been there. If only you weren’t so gullible. If only you wouldn’t have opened that website or looked at that. If only you had better boundaries. If only you would have recognized you were slipping. If only you had listened and taken any one of the exit ramps—ways out God provided—instead of rebelliously going forward. If only you had not been drinking. If only you had quit before you got caught and lost whatever you lost.

Have you mentally had that conversation or one like it? A lot of us are so, so good at telling other people how amazing Jesus is and how great his love is, but we forget it applies to us too.

The night before Jesus died, he instituted the Lord’s Supper. As he was celebrating the Passover with his disciples, he took bread and broke it and gave it to his disciples. He said, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

Then he took the wine and gave it to his disciples. He said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:19,20). The new covenant is key, because the new agreement takes all the pressure off of us. Whatever we did that we shouldn’t have, Jesus paid for that. Whatever we didn’t do that we should have, Jesus died for that too.

If you are a churchgoing Christian and you struggle to forgive yourself, the next time you take Lord’s Supper focus on the words for you. Jesus said, “This is my body given for you. This is my blood poured out for you.”

Forgiving others is important. Jesus commands you to do it. But don’t forget to forgive yourself. Jesus’ body was broken. His blood was shed to pay for every sin ever committed. Yours. Mine. Theirs. The ones you and I consider small and the ones we know are big. End of story. Done.

Imagine finding out someone bought you a new car, but you never pick it up from the dealership. You know it’s there, but you struggle to believe it.

Jesus bled and died so you could walk in the freedom of his forgiveness. So walk in it, confidently and fully embracing God’s grace, ready to love and serve Jesus and his people.