Recently, I made a boneheaded mistake with my new-to-me John Deere riding mower.

It didn’t hurt anyone, nor did it harm the mower, but it cost me time and left me feeling foolish. I didn’t tell anyone about it until now because there are 99 reasons to think I’m an idiot. The world doesn’t need one more. 

So I did what many of us do.

I let the event play on repeat in my mind while reminding myself how stupid I am. 

Eventually, I stopped and remembered something my friend Andy often says:

“No one died.”

Simple, but powerful.

Because if someone else had made the same mistake with my mower, I know what I would have said:

Don’t worry about it. No one died.

It took fifteen minutes to fix the mower. It took half a day to stop beating myself up over it.

That got me thinking.

Why Grace Is Easier to Give Than Receive  

Why are we often kinder to others than we are to ourselves?

The Bible tells us repeatedly to show grace, mercy, and forgiveness.

“Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.” — Ephesians 4:32

“Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.” — Colossians 3:13

We understand this well enough when it comes to other people.

We know they are human. We know they make mistakes. We know they fail.

But we have a blind spot when looking in the mirror. 

Grace isn’t the first response for ourselves. We overlook it and go straight to condemnation.

The Ways We Work Against Ourselves 

Our mistakes aren’t the only way we’re hard on ourselves. We also struggle to value what we do. 

For example, I have a generous nature. I’ll drive home bare-chested after giving someone my shirt.

But then I’ll turn around and undercharge clients for my title exams.

Think about the contradiction.

I often hurt myself by giving away too much, and then hurt myself again by refusing to value what I do properly.

Ironically, the result is less money to be generous with later.

Whether it’s condemning ourselves over mistakes or undervaluing what God has entrusted to us, the common thread is often the same:

We’re harder on ourselves than we’d ever be on someone else.

Grace Was Meant for You Too 

If Christ’s blood is enough to cover my sins, failures, mistakes, and shortcomings, then why would I keep carrying what He has already forgiven?

That doesn’t mean avoiding consequences.

It doesn’t mean pretending mistakes don’t matter.

It means learning from them without living under them.

It means owning them without letting them own you.

Maybe you’ve spent too much time punishing yourself for things God has already forgiven.

Maybe you’ve been making life harder on yourself in ways you didn’t even realize.

Learn the lesson.

Make things right where you can.

But stop working against yourself.

God’s grace was never meant only for other people.

It was meant for you, too. 

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