Do you struggle with guilt and shame?

Do you struggle with guilt and shame? You are a new creation in Christ Jesus.

Do you struggle with guilt and shame?

Darkness swirls around you as you hear Satan wickedly whisper words of doubt in your ear, “Are you sure God has forgiven you?” Gleefully he begins to remind you of your sins and failures.  Despair begins to wrap its ugly tentacles around your mind and attempts to choke out the truth; you are forgiven. Feelings of shame and guilt become a burden too heavy for you to carry.

Let’s take a look at John 8: 3-11

3 “The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

We do not know the name of the woman, but we can imagine her humiliation and shame.  Her sin was announced and made public.

She stood alone.

Accused and condemned. 

Suffering and ashamed.

God himself knelt before her, and the same finger that wrote the ten commandments upon the stone tablets wrote in the sand.  Scripture does not reveal to us what was written in the sand, but instead, it paints a picture of God’s grace and forgiveness.  Jesus is the only one who could have thrown a stone at her and yet he doesn’t.  He offers her forgiveness and tells her to leave her life of sin.

How many stones do you hurl against yourself on a daily basis?  Do you hold onto the feelings of guilt and shamefacedness of the sins Christ has removed from you?  “As far as the east is from the west so are you sins removed from you.”  Psalm 103:12

STOP

Once you confess your sins and receive forgiveness, it is permanent.  What is done cannot be undone.  “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36

At the foot of the cross lay down your guilt and shame, it is not your burden to carry.  Leave it all there.  And receive grace and mercy from your Lord and Savior.

My prayer for you is found in Ephesians 3:14-21:

14 “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

 

Remember these three things:

You are loved beyond measure.

You are forgiven.

You are never alone.