No Condemnation

As I was doing my quiet time tonight, two words stuck out to me: no condemnation. 

Immediately they hit me with full force. How can a big God Who deserves nothing but honor and glory forgive all the wrongs I've done? How can He look past them all like I never did them? 

You may be carrying something around that you feel terribly guilty about. You may feel like this guilt comes from God to remind you, or punish you, for what you have done. But that is simply not the case. Jesus forgives us of our sins and takes them from us. When Jesus went to the cross He paid the price for your sins, once and for all. You don't have to keep paying for your sins through guilt. You don't have to carry them around anymore. You don't have to live with shame anymore. If you are in Christ, you are forgiven. (excerpt from Transformed)

I will never understand how God can love me enough to send His Son for me, but I will always be grateful. As I was thinking about this, however, I realized, do I live like I'm forgiven? Do we live like we're forgiven? If a debtor is forgiven his debt, does he go out and obtain another one? If a beggar is given a home, does he leave and go back to the streets to beg? The challenge for those of us who have experienced God's forgiveness is to live like we've been forgiven. 

I think sometimes we hold onto the guilt because we're afraid if we let go then it'll be erased from our memory. Or if we let go then God is gonna smash us over the head. Or if we hold on long enough then the wrong will go away. Whatever the reason is, don't live with guilt. Trust me, it'll weigh you down and steal your joy. Romans 8:1 says, Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Perhaps you're reading this, and you've never experienced God's forgiveness. Perhaps you're looking back over your life and feeling discouraged because of all you've done. Please don't be. All God wants you to do is just accept His gift. You don't have to understand why He would offer it. I never will. All I know is that the Maker of the universe desired to have a relationship with us so much that instead of turning us into robots, He sent His Son to die, conquer sin, and come back to life to give us freedom so that we can have fellowship with Him. We have a choice to make. Who wants to live with guilt? You don't have to be fancy, just talk to God like you would a friend and ask Him to forgive you and cleanse you. He's waiting for you!

We all have a past. We all have things we wish we could fix or just things we regret happening. One of my favorite verses that I have seen lived out so many times is Romans 8:28, And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. One of the sayings in the Transformed study that has really stuck out to me is Your greatest ministry will come from your deepest pain. God uses what we go through to help others, but we can't help them if we're still living in guilt. We'll never be transformed if we aren't emotionally healthy. Don't let Satan win by being burdened by guilt. Embrace God's forgiveness today and live a life full of joy!

No condemnation. Two words with a powerful meaning.