Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Guilt vs Guard
In this life filled with the flesh Satin has used Guilt a number of times to keep me down about myself and my sin. All the while keeping me from having any victory over that sin. Yet my guilt also serves to remind me of my faults and to help me keep my guard up against what gave me reason to guilt. It seems to be a hard balance between having my guard up to keep from sinning but to not be lost in guilt. Shame is not of the lord, He has forgiven and forgotten and He want to see victory in my life and a continual progression to Christ likeness. Satin though wants me lost in my self pity and guilt. Is 6: "See this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for!" (emph. added) O lord Jesus thank you for being the coal that has touched my lips, may I have joy for my guilt is taken away and my sin is atoned for.
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2 comments:
"Shame is not of the Lord, He has forgiven and forgotten..."
Amen, brother.
Your post sparked some thought in me, Mike... like how in my own journey, I discovered that my "shame" wasn't always about sin, but was frequently a toxic shame directed at my core-identity. The feeling of being sinful just compounded an existing self-image injury in which I was ashamed of myself, at least in part, as a defective human being (that's how my heart felt when I took the time to listen).
As Christians, we hear a LOT of REDEMPTION theology in church, & rightly so; but not very much CREATION theology. It was staggering for me to realize that knowing how good Christ is & that I'm redeemed & forgiven is only the starting point to my healing; & that my "ashamed-as-a-human-being" problem required a personal theological recapitulation (recapturing creation theology).
Even BEFORE I was forgiven, I was valued & loved by God as a "good" creation (Gen 1, 1 Jn 3:1)... significant, acceptable, & capable in God's eyes (except for my moral unnacceptability). The tough part is teaching that to the feeling part of our hearts... our "inner children" if you will (that's how it acts anyway - like a hurting child waiting for a parent to love him/her.)
If you're interested, there's an awesome book by John Bradshaw called "Healing the Shame That Binds You" that was instrumental in my own personal journey of healing & dealing with this issue of shame.
Thanks for your post & broadening ministry, Mike. I appreciate you; & I'm really glad to have you as a brother.
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