How does the gospel enter into our guilt and shame as people who fail?  If I stop and consider what is going on inside my own heart when I choose to allow myself to be defined by past mistakes, or failures, ultimately what I am saying is that the death of Christ on the cross was not sufficient for me.  My unbelief, is masked by prideful self-loathing, such that it may even seem righteous outwardly, but this not so and is not the will of God.

We are all sinners.  We fail every day.  We see this in Isaiah 64:6 – “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.  We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”   We see it again in Romans 3:11-12 – “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

This is the Word of God, exposing what is true of us, and inwardly our heart acknowledges the Truth of our iniquity and unrighteousness.  God did not leave us to wallow in guilt and shame though.  Romans 5:8 – “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  

My question for us all mid-stream here, is how has the gospel of Jesus dealt with your guilt for your sin, and the shame you may feel from being exposed or identified with your failures?  Romans 8:1 tells us – “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  You are not the judge of your life, other people are not the judge of your life, Jesus is the judge of your life, and if He does not condemn you, why are you staying in unbelief judging yourself or allowing others to judge you?  I do not mean to increase anyone’s burden by adding something else to feel guilty for, but I do mean to challenge myself and us all to really believe the gospel.  Press the gospel into the spaces of your heart maybe it has not penetrated yet.  If there is unbelief, go to God in humble honesty and ask Him to help you believe and rest in His work on the cross for you.

This may be awkward in a reading format, but I’d encourage anyone if that resonates with you at all, don’t move on or keep reading, but stop here, close this out, and do business with God, asking Him to help give you freedom and peace through the gospel.

For those of you who have kept moving on, you need to repent of your hard heartedness, because we’re all in the bucket above!  Freedom in Christ comes through faith in the finished work of Jesus on the cross. Freedom comes from taking our eyes off ourselves and putting them on Jesus.  Freedom comes from seeing our sin, repenting of it, confessing it to our brothers, and quickly running back to the cross of Christ, where we see our perfect righteousness and identity in Christ crucified, our living hope.

Grace and Peace,

Adam