How to Leave The Prison of Guilt
We know from 1st John 1:8 that all Christians will sin. Some of these sins will be terrible, grievous, life-altering sins. Some of these sins will be of the “medium” category. They have effects that disrupt our life and produce deep shame, but are not life altering in their effects. It is to Christians who have committed these more serious types of sins that I write to tonight. This article isn’t attempting to help you get out of those sins, for those types of articles, go here. This is an article about dealing with the aftermath of shame and guilt.
Is it possible, after committing serious sin, to live at peace with God again? Or will the heavy cloak of shame continue to wrap itself around your neck?
Sin Is Serious
My goal is not to pretend sin is not serious, for it is. Jesus is very clear that we are to take our holiness seriously, our obedience matters before God. If you feel the heaviness of sin though, you are aware of this. And what you need is not another look at your sin, you’ve done that too often. You need another look at God. Another look at grace. Another look at mercy. Another look at forgiveness in hopes that fresh streams of love will flow into your heart.
Is there any hope for the Christian when their sinfulness is not just of the “small” category of sins? When the type and severity of sin rises far above the pesky little sins (that are evil) like gossip or forsaking the sabbath? According to the authority of God’s word, there is. His Word doesn’t promise there will not be consequences for our sin, but it promises that He will be with us in the consequences and that we can truly be forgiven. If that seems impossible to you, consider these verses:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness. (Lam 3:22-23)
“I called on your name, O Lord,
from the depths of the pit;
you heard my plea, ‘Do not close
your ear to my cry for help!’
You came near when I called on you;
you said, ‘Do not fear!’“You have taken up my cause, O Lord;
you have redeemed my life. (Lam 3:55-58)
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1st John 1:9)
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:1-2)
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6)
Rescue is not for the strong
These texts are not about your perfection, your ability, your strength, your morality, your ability to be strong to God. They don’t say “if you fix your situation and come to God sincerely, He will bless you.” They say, when you’ve jacked up your life. When you are keenly aware of your sinfulness and you find yourself in a pit you cannot climb out of… that’s when God comes and rescues you.
God does not rescue clean people or strong people, that’s not rescue. Rescue is when you are depleted of all ability to save yourself and you collapse. That’s what being rescued is because it’s all about His strength, His Power, His Mercy, His Purity, His heart for you. If you find yourself having a hard time understanding that the Gospel is about God saving you while you were weak, which means if you find yourself weak now, you are in a state He was willing to die for, I would encourage you to pick a verse above and write it on an index card.
Seriously, do it. I have index cards all around my room with verses that I have a hard time getting into my heart. When I pass by them, I read them and ask God to let them sink deeply. Getting your heart to rest in the promises of the Gospel is so counter to how we are wired to think about love and grace… we need to massage the texts into our hearts.
Leave the prison cell
Dear Christian, there may be a fatherly displeasure over your sins, but God does not want you to stay inside a cell of guilt and shame to pay your price. That price was already paid. Sound too good to be true? Well don’t take my word for it, let God speak for Himself: “When you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our trespasses, having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross!” (Colossians 2:14)
The price to be paid for your sins was paid by Jesus on the cross. Will you not stand up in this Gospel love and walk with the Lord? He delights to renew you again. Your story as God’s child is not over. There are new chapters to be written.
Consider this quote I came across a few months ago:
To live in grace is to live in the knowledge that God’s forgiveness is real and complete. It is stepping out in faith and applying His methods and working to reflect the character of Christ faithfully. Remember an earlier illustration: the prisoner is pronounced free, but he doesn’t experience that freedom until he steps out of the prison and exercises the privileges that are rightfully his. By grace, forgiveness is granted and what is left for us to do is to live in the reality that God looks on us with His favor and in doing so He empowers us to live as He desires us to.
Living in the grace of God does not mean we live in such a way as to no longer need His forgiveness. Otherwise Paul’s saying, ‘...grace to you’ (Rom. 1:7), could be taken to be encouragement to sin more so you can experience more grace. He argues just the opposite, however, in Romans 6. Living in the grace of God means being able to live in obedience to Him in increasing measure. When we think of grace we should think of it as the agent of both forgiveness and empowerment.
Grace breaks the stranglehold of sin by putting us in a new relationship with God. Before we had Christ we were dead in sin and under God’s judgment. In Christ we are recipients of life and blessing (Eph. 2:1–5). We have been made His children, received a new heart and mind and we have been given His Spirit to live inside us and minister to us (Ezek. 36:25–27; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 1:3–14). The ‘how to’ of leaving yesterday behind in grace is to be who we are in Christ.
As one who had always thought she had to satisfy her husband and her parents or be a failure, Jean was in awe of God’s grace. His grace told her that she was fully acceptable to Him now. She learned that God would help her grow as she stepped out in obedience to Him. Her parents’ demands told her she never would be acceptable, but God said she already was. She was ready now to live a life empowered by grace and to learn more about her new family in Christ.
Who are you in Christ? If you belong to Christ you are a child with a privileged position and a new identity in the family of God.
-Hines, W. (1996). Christianity and change: steps to growth and healing in Christian counseling (pp. 49–50). Christian Focus Publications.
Marveling at God’s grace for the least of us,
Josh.
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