"34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." John 8:34-36
Jesus, The Son of God, has made us free from sin through the atonement. We may never recieve forgiveness from others but if we repent and seek forgiveness from The Lord we will be free indeed.
But it's not forgiveness from others that completes the process of repentance, it's forgiving oneself.
It's not just a one way street in loving The Lord, we must love all His children including ourselves.
Loving ourselves and forgiving ourselves is often the hardest thing to accomplish.
Often we see the example of a sinless Jesus who was perfect in thought, speech and in deed, and we count every one of our sins and rake ourselves over the coals harsher than any critic ever could.
"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23
Paul tells us that we have all fallen short of the glory of God but through the atonement we may recieve remission of our sins because Jesus paid our debt.
Forgiving others is part of what we are called to do but forgiving ourselves is key just as loving others is part of accepting the call to discipleship but loving ourselves is also key.
We must first love and forgive ourselves or we can not love or forgive others, not truly.
And we must also accept the consequences of our words and deeds. Being forgiven or loved does not alter the consequences of our sins. That is penance of sorts that can not be avoided.
Jesus responded to Peters question as to how many times we must forgive others.
"Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven." Matthew 18:21-22
Seventy times seven was a term for infinity so Jesus is teaching that true forgiveness is infinite just as true love is without terms and conditions so too forgiveness has no limits or conditions.
With love and forgiveness dwelling within us we experience peace as we also exude those qualities we live in peace.
