Freedom>Guilt
Updated: Aug 27, 2020
Among the many characteristics that define Christians is freedom.
Jesus says in John 8:36, "if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." The Apostle Paul then says in 2 Corinthians 3:16, "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."
But, how true is this in your life? Would you really consider yourself to be living with a great sense of freedom?
I'm convinced that too many Christians, myself included, don't live as freely as we could be.
Just think about how many times you feel that you ought to be doing more. 'I should be in another Bible study, I should be serving more often at church, I should be reaching out to more people in my neighbourhood...'
These are certainly worthy things to consider pouring your time into, and maybe you should reconfigure your schedule and your priorities to allow for them. That being said, they shouldn't paralyze you. Not participating or refraining from initiating shouldn't make you feel any less as a person.
Jesus took away your guilt at the cross. You don't have to wear it. Guilt doesn't belong to you, Jesus has already paid the ultimate sacrifice. When you feel as if there is something else you always have to do, you're not able to enjoy the abundant life intended for you. Guilt and freedom cannot co-exist.
It's so important that we go beneath the surface, that we plow up the fallowed ground (Jer 4:3) and we deal with the giant of guilt. If you don't, not only will this endless cycle cripple you personally, it will also cripple your witness.
Non-Christians already think that Jesus-followers serve some kind of taskmaster. To live unsettled and to be full of angst because of something you haven't done yet, that's not attractive at all.
Yet, when we live with Christ's freedom, when we're willing to share our past mistakes and past trials without shame and without guilt, we do so knowing that these tribulations don't define us, but that Christ does.
When you learn to truly live with Christ's freedom, your life, once marked by guilt, will becomes so clearly a testament of God's great redemption that everyone can see (including you).