Jared's Thoughts

I see judgmentalism and legalism as a legitimate problem of the Christian church at large, based on the fact non-Christians and ones who have gone AWOL often feel so judged by the church and by God.  It breaks my heart.  I wish I could give all such people a hug. …And tell them God loves them.

Part of the devil’s first schemes against mankind (and therefore God) was to get man and woman to feel guilty before God, needing to hide from Him.  Often when we do something wrong, we feel like we have to go away, fix the matter, and then come back to God. This is totally wrong!

“and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden” – Genesis 3:8

…like that was going to do any good!  Furthermore, if we think we aren’t good enough to meet with God, and already off track, that is only going to make things worse!

Burdens: For God, not for us

The simple answer?  The Bible says to confess your sins, and He will forgive (1 John 1:9). Jesus said:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” – Matthew 11:28-30

Guilt is a huge burden: feeling we’ve messed up so bad that we can’t be made right, and that we don’t deserve to be redeemed.  But God saw all of us making a mistakes before He made us, and He did anyway!  And He loved us SO much that He sent His Son to die for us.  All of us.  Do not underestimate how much God loves you, no matter what you’ve done.

Sometimes it actually takes humility to accept that God can still love you.  That’s right, if you think “God shouldn’t bother with me, I’ve done really bad things,” you may have a pride problem.  ”I’m doing God a favor by staying away until I can get my life on track.”   Bzzt!  Get over it, and get some love already!  God really likes it when you have the guts to let the hot air out of your ego.

Christians: Putting God on hold (queue telephone elevator music)

The problem is by no means limited to those who are “running from God.”  Well-mannered Christians who think they’re doing pretty well can make a mistake and think they have to fix it on their own and pat themselves on the back before they can go be back on good terms with God.  What happens on this little  ”oops! God, I’ll be right back” excursion?  The attempt to fix the problem is done ‘in the flesh’, which is jargon for trying to do something in the spiritually empty strength of man that which can only be accomplished through by the Spirit of God, which He freely offers.  So inevitably, the person tires themselves out without making progress, often making things much worse before they finally hit bottom in some way and give up.  (So do yourself a favor and give up ever trying to redeem yourself by your own power.)

Self-righteousness that leads to hypocrisy

Other Christians may even have a self-righteousness problem, thinking they’re all that, and be in denial that they’ve compromised on what’s right.  ”I’m pretty good, and I’ll allow myself this, because it’s no big deal.  It’s not really wrong.”  Eventually, this self-righteousness grows putrid and it is evident (especially to non-legalistic people) how hypocrisy abounds.  It can even infect entire subcultures of Christianity! Jesus was extremely upset with the Pharisees, who had a really bad case of this problem.

Bottom line – Don’t put up with burden

So, bottom line for anybody: if you’ve made a mistake, big or small, go to God about it.  Even if its something you’ve asked forgiveness for 1000 times.  Even if you think it made you unlovable.  Confess it to Him and ask Him if there’s anything you need to do.  Ask Him to help you not to do it again.  Ask Him to take the burden of guilt away, replacing it with a knowledge that you are justified by Jesus Christ. If you need to, keep asking — He is faithful, and there is nothing He wants more than to have friendship restored with you.  It pleases Him each time you humble yourself to ask Him to forgive and to help you.

Guilt is a healthy emotional response when we’ve done something we know is wrong, but if we carry it around with us, it is a burden that weighs us down and keeps us from God.  We should not carry the burden any further than the cross.  Jesus wants to trade you all your burdens for rest, and let you know He is gentle.

God engineered things for us to live predominantly guilt-free

In the Garden of Eden, God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day (Genesis 3).   Enoch “walked with God”.  This is what we are made for — to have fellowship and companionship with the God (1 Cor 1:9) who created us as relational beings, capable of love.  How cool is it to know God loves you, likes you, and is happy with you?  (Even if you still make mistakes and have major character deficiencies!)  It is pretty much the best feeling in the world.  If King David can be an adulterer and murderer and still be a “man after God’s own heart,” that is good news for all of us!  (I for one don’t envision I will become anywhere near perfect or run out of “character improvement missions” in this lifetime.)

So how long are you going to hold onto that guilt, trying to fix it on your own, and let it keep you from feeling God’s love?  10 years of regret? 1 year of self-beration?  A week of dread?  A minute of sorrow?  A second of humility?  I’ll race ya!