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My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear. Psalm 38:4
Next to anger, guilt is perhaps the greatest crippler of all time. When you consider the fact that fear can often be caused by guilt that only adds to the drama! Guilt comes into our lives when we feel ashamed for an action that we’ve done. Sometimes that guilt is ‘warranted’ because we all make mistakes. Sometimes that guilt comes from the accusations of others. Even if we are innocent of the accusation we can feel guilty about it.
People try to deal with guilt in a variety of ways in order to ease the pain. Some try to ignore the guilt and pretend that whatever it is that makes us feel guilty never really happened. That’s called denial. If I ignore my guilt long enough it will be less painful. That’s not really true, but we believe the lie. Suppressing guilt only keeps it at bay for a time. Eventually it comes back with vengeance.
Others try to deal with guilt by soothing it with a variety of things like new relationships, new toys, new jobs or surroundings. We focus on external things in order to try to ignore the internal pain we feel. When we tire of the old things we simply replace them with new in hopes that we will be satisfied. Using denial and external things to try to cover up guilt never work.
Sometimes people use the ‘blame game’ to deal with their guilt. “Yes, I did that but if he/she hadn’t done this, or if she/he HAD done that, I wouldn’t have done what I did.” Placing blame on others takes the attention off of me and puts it on others. It’s like creating a diversion. The problem with this is that people eventually see though our antics and we end up being the only one that believes our story. People who use the blame game seldom realize that they are the main problem in the healing process.
Following ‘social trends’ rather than God’s Word can also be used to cover guilt. “Everyone else is doing it so it must be okay.” We surround ourselves with people who, like us, haven’t dealt with their guilt. Since they appear to be comfortable in what they do we feel comfortable as well. There is sort of a comfort in mutual misery.
Even religion can be used to cover guilt. We do something wrong and go to God for forgiveness. He willingly forgives us of all our sins. However, we feel so bad about what we have done that we try to do ‘things’ to cover the pain. These can be very good things like church attendance, Bible Studies, volunteering, even being in ministry to try to cover the shame and guilt of our sin. When we struggle with a recurring sin we tend to increase our ‘religious activity’ to deal with the pain. Nothing relieves that pain though and so we revert to the blame game. “It’s not working. It must be Gods fault, or the churches fault, or the fault of those so-called Christians.”
There is nothing you can do to free yourself of the weight of guilt you carry. The longer you carry it the heavier it grows. The more things you try to remove the guilt from your life the heavier your burden grows. The more you regret the more you fret. Sometimes people are so weighed down by the burden of trying to remove the guilt from their lives that they become physically, emotionally or mentally ill. Some even commit suicide to try to remove the pain.
Jesus has the answer to your guilt and the burden you carry. It’s not found in religion. It’s not found in church. It’s not found in relationships, toys or activity. Freedom from guilt comes through Jesus alone and the grace He offers. Hebrews 10:22 says “let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.”
Jesus not only cleanses the sin, he wants to cleanse the feelings of guilt you carry. Satan and others will want to try to continually remind you of your past mistakes. Tell them that Jesus took care of that on the cross. When guilt attacks take it directly to Jesus. Let Him remind you that YOU ARE FORGIVEN. No questions. No second thoughts. NO MORE BLAME. Say to yourself, ‘Because of Jesus I am not only forgiven of my sin, I am cleansed of my guilt. I will no longer allow guilt to control me and weigh me down. I AM FREE.’
PRAYER: Dear Jesus. I thank you that you look on my heart and not on my actions. I am so sorry for the pain I’ve caused myself, others and you. I’ve made decisions that continue to be hurtful. I continue to struggle with sin. My guilt is ever before me. I ask that once and for all you search my heart and reveal any unconfessed sin. Then I pray that you not only forgive me of my sin, but that you cleanse my guilty conscience. Empower me to live free of guilt regardless of the number of times other people try to remind me of my past. From this day forward I resolve to rely on you to free me from guilt. Amen.
I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart on your laws. Psalm 119:30
A friend of mine told me of the first time he visited his girlfriend’s (now wife’s) family in rural Minnesota. My friend was born and raised in the city. His only experience with tractors and farm machinery was the area called ‘machinery hill’ at the State Fair. But my friend was always willing to try new things. There were few challenges he wasn’t ready to take.
His girlfriend, however, was born and raised on a farm miles from the nearest large city. ‘She’d learned how to drive tractor almost before she knew how to walk!” He chuckled as he told the story.
On his first visit to the farm he was eager to learn about the farm and equally eager to impress this new family. He willingly helped with chores and laughed at himself when he made some goofy, ‘green-hand’ mistake. He readily accepted the offer from one of the brothers to drive the tractor and was quite impressed with how quickly he learned the ropes.
On the third day on the farm he overheard talk at the dinner table about an 80 acre field that still needed to be plowed before the predicted rain came later that day. After the meal he offered his ‘dad-in-law-to-be’ his services to plow the field. After some discussion the father finally agreed and the two climbed on board the tractor for the trip to the field.
Dad made the first two trips across the field explaining how the plow and tractor worked together and giving some instruction. My friend now admits that he wasn’t really listening. The excitement of the new challenge occupied his mind completely. The father soon left him on his own for the new adventure and walked back to the farm. My friend was on his own.
He soon found out that the task wasn’t as easy as he had expected to be. Whereas the father had plowed nice strait furrow in the earth, my friend found it nearly impossible to stay on track. His furrows were crooked and overlapped. He constantly had to cut back to pick up places he’d missed completely. After a couple hours of frustration he turned the tractor around once more only to see a gaping spot he’d missed in the field and a familiar shape standing near the fence line.
As he guided the tractor across the field one more time he looked back and noticed that in his nervousness he had once again left a gaping hole, missing an entire segment of earth. The father climbed on board the tractor and asked him how it was going. My friend admitted that it was much tougher than he’d expected and was more impressed than ever with the father’s ability to plow such straight furrows time after time. He asked what the secret was.
The father smiled and pointed across the field. “You see that fence post at the other end? Let’s take one more pass here. I want you to place all your attention on that post. Don’t look to the side, don’t look back. Only drive to the post.”
My friend put the tractor in gear and looked ahead at the post. He resisted every temptation to check the plow, the sides or anything else. When he got to the end of the field he looked back and saw a perfectly straight furrow! The trick was to keep his focus on what lay ahead.
What a perfect lesson to learn for each of us. The Psalmist tells us to ‘set our hearts on the Laws of God’. In order to make straight paths on the journey of life we must set our attention completely on what God wants for us. Don’t look at where we’ve been. Don’t look at what is going on around us. Set our eyes squarely on Jesus and we won’t waver.
PRAYER: Holy God. I confess to you that I am constantly tempted to look at my past and what others around me are doing. When I do that I lose my vision of who you are, of who I am and what you want for me. I ask that you would empower me to only pay attention to what you want for me. Keep me from being distracted by my past. Help me to ignore those things that would keep me from following you. I ask this in the name of your Son Jesus. Amen.
So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NLT)
Reflection: the act of reflecting an image; representation; counterpart; the production of an image by or as if by a mirror.
Who is Jesus? What is He like? Why should I put my trust in Him? If He was alive 2000 years ago why should I pay any attention to Him now? What good would that do?
These are questions our world is asking during a time when there are many questions about religion, many other ‘choices’ offered to bring meaning and truth to life.
Each of us, as Christ-followers, are given the privilege of showing the world who Jesus is. The Apostle Paul tells us that we reflect the glory of the Lord to those who don’t know who Jesus is. That means that if your neighbor were asked what Jesus was like, they would say something like, “I’m not sure. But I think Jesus is probably like my neighbor.”
There are many people that have rejected Christ because they haven’t seen Him in the lives of His followers. Rather than seeing a reflection of Jesus when they look at us they see a reflection of something else, a human just as they are.
The bad news is that we are humans. We fail. We get angry. We hurt people physically, emotionally and mentally. In and of ourselves we can never reflect anything other than failure. It seems we are constantly reminded of that. Sometimes we are our own worst enemy by remembering our past and beating ourselves up for not being strong, not being holy, not following God the way we should. Other times people around us hold up our past mistakes like banners to remind us that we’ve failed.
The good news is that as reflections of Jesus we are not the source of the light. We simply reflect it. God is the one who ‘cleans the glass’ through the forgiveness offered through Jesus. God is the one that provides the light that shines though us.
The cleaning of our ‘mirrors’ takes time. We shouldn’t expect to reach perfection overnight. Don’t be discouraged by past mistakes and present struggles. That’s all part of the process God uses to prepare us for greater things.
Remember that God loves you dearly. He loves you enough to cleanse you through His Son, Jesus. He loves you enough to let His glory shine through you. ‘God’s glory’ refers to His Holy Spirit. When the Spirit is shining through you other people will notice because of the spiritual fruit of: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! (Galatians 5:22-23-NLT)
PRAYER: Dear Father. Thank you for Jesus and the love and forgiveness I have received through Him. I confess to you that I am often not a very good ‘mirror for Jesus’. Forgive me for the times I’ve been a poor reflection of Your glory. I ask that You would continue to clean and polish me so that others would see Jesus when they look at me. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
The wicked man flees though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion. Proverbs 28:1
Have you ever been walking alone or in a room at night and felt like you were being chased? The ‘rational’ part of your mind assures you of the facts: “You are alone. There is no one there.” But the fear screams at you louder. You may even get up and check the room or turn around and check your surroundings to verify the truth: “You are alone. There is no one there.” But the fear persists. Facts don’t matter, feelings take over.
That is the picture the writer of Proverbs 21:1 uses to define the difference between the ‘righteous’ and the ‘wicked’. It’s really about faith and trusting facts over feelings. The enemy, Satan, is a great purveyor of doubt, doom and despair. He is always there to remind you of how many times you’ve failed. He’ll question whether God can really forgive you again, or is this the last straw?
Fear and doubt are great ‘cripplers.’ They will keep us from attaining all that God has for us. Every time we fail. Every time we sin is one more ‘example’ that we can’t do this Christian Life thing. It’s hopeless. It doesn’t matter if it’s a ‘big sin’ or a ‘little sin’ the effect is the same. We dwell on the failures and not on what really matters.
As Christ-followers we can be like a lion. Lions are confident and rulers of the jungle. They are feared above all animals because of their power and cunning. Lions aren’t afraid of anything, neither man nor beast. They walk with nobility knowing exactly who they are and what they are capable of.
That is the picture Proverbs 21:1 paints of the Christ-followers. We can walk with confidence and without fear because our righteousness is not based on who we are, what we can do, or how well we ‘do life’. Our righteousness is built on Jesus Christ and His ability and willingness to forgive us of our past lives, and freely give His Grace for the future.
God doesn’t look at where we were or where we are. He looks at where we are going. He doesn’t expect perfection, but He does demand trust and reliance on His Holy Spirit to live for Him. He sees us as diamonds in the rough, ready for polishing and of great value. Gems to be cherished and shown off.
Stop dwelling on your failures. In debt? Start now to do what you can to spend wisely. Hounded by worry? Burdened with guilt or the consequences of sin? Jesus came to relieve you of those things. Every day try to give just one more thing to Him. He doesn’t expect us to be perfect; He isn’t interested in what you are like today. He sees the possibilities in you and wants to help you be all you want to be. Don’t listen to the fears and feelings. Walk confidently in the FACT that God loves you and is working now to make you all you can be. Be patient with yourself along the journey.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father. I’m burdened today with worry and fear. I’m having a real struggle between acting on what I know and being crippled by my feelings of guilt, shame and hopelessness. Thank you for Jesus and His righteousness. Help me to remember that I live by His work on the cross and not my ability to follow You completely. Empower me today to see me as a lion and to walk confidently in the fact that You see my possibilities. Amen
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17
We are not remodeled. We are not restored. We are not refurbished. We are new creations. What an amazing truth to ponder. To remodel, restore or refurbish means that we take what is good from an object (car, building, etc.) and try to recreate it to its previous state, or improve upon its previous state to make it better and more useful.
The Bible tells us that when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior we are new creations. Our Father doesn’t reach down and try to refashion us into what we once were. He doesn’t take the good parts and set them aside, remove the bad stuff and then rebuild us. He makes us new.
The Apostle Paul says, in Corinthians, that all of the old is gone now. The past has been removed. In Jesus Christ we are brand new creations. That means that we no longer need to live in the shadows of our past. The poor choices, the broken relationships, the addictive tendencies no longer need to rule over us.
Does that mean that we won’t ever struggle with sin? NO! In Romans Paul tells the candid truth that even this great man of God struggled daily with sin. He says, “The things I want to do, I don’t do. The things I hate to do I find myself doing!” As long as we live on earth we will struggle with the temptation to do things wrong. But Jesus wants better things for us. He died to remove sins penalty. He rose to give victory over the grave. He ascended to Heaven to prepare a place for us. He sent His Spirit to empower us to live more fully for Him each day.
You are a new creature in Jesus. Don’t let the past haunt you any longer. The things of your past no longer have any control over who you are. In a sense you no longer have a ‘past’, only life with Christ. Walk daily with Jesus. Let Him direct your paths and show you the way to living live fully in Him. Jesus alone can free you from the barriers of the past and empower you to live completely new lives in Him.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father. I thank you for the love you have shown through Jesus. Thank you for the way you made me in your image. I confess that the sins of my past have kept me from living the life of fullness you have for me. I pray that I will learn to walk more closely to you and that through your Spirit the baggage of my past will be left behind. Help me to live as the new Creation I am. Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 