GUILT

Guilt has a way of pushing us away from God. It’s like the more we sin, the more we become too judgemental of ourselves and we ultimately decide for God on whether we deserve to be forgiven. Most times we punish ourselves with the presumption that it’s what God would have wanted in order to feel better. 

Other times, we harden our heart (defence mechanism), so we won’t feel, probably because we’re tired of repeating the same cycle,  it seems there’s no point trying to get better since we’ll eventually fall into the same temptation. So, hardening our heart seems like a better alternative, thereby trivializing it. To be fair, all sins are equal but that doesn’t mean we should condemn ourselves or others. God didn’t ask you to help Him with that.

Do you know why it seems like we recycle the same sin? Jesus said in (John 8:34), ‘everyone who sins is a slave to sin’ It’s more like once you start a particular sin, you’re hooked, you’re chained, you try to unlock the chain, but you cannot because you do not have the key(s) to unlock yourself from that sin.
In igbo we say 'njo azuola gi na wholesale'(You’ve been acquired wholesale by sin). Verses 35 and 36, paraphrasing: Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but the Son belongs to it forever, so if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I believe this is self explanatory. Matthew 11:28-29; Come to me (Jesus), 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. It’s more like, you’re hooked on pornography for example, and you really want to do better, it might at a point seem you’re getting a hold on yourself (wooow!!! you’re getting really good with this self control thing) but all of a sudden you get triggered and you fall back into it. To be fair, the bible says without me (Jesus) you can do absolutely nothing (John 15:5). You can try on your own but you really need the grace of God to truly be set free because “he whom the Son sets free is free indeed”. Not by might nor by power, but by the Spirit of God (Zech 4:6). Jesus clearly said that He is the light of the world, whoever follows Him will never walk in darkness, but will have light of life (John 8:12).

The bible also made us understand that Jesus doesn’t condemn (John 8:11), so yeah, those feelings of condemnation you feel isn’t from Him; you can slow down with the accusation or part time job you’ve given to yourself. Jesus came to love and show mercy. We cannot truly become full blown believers by fear. Most times we have a hard time asking God for forgiveness or actually believing He has forgiven us (we tell ourselves, He can’t forgive us just like that, we need to do some sort of penance, so we go ahead to punish ourselves). The good news is you can talk to Jesus about “ANYTHING”. Jesus said whoever comes to Him will in no wise be cast out. You are never going to be rejected (nothing is too big for Him and Nothing is too little for him). John 12:17 says For I (Jesus) did not come to judge the world but to save the world.

Jesus wants us to enjoy our lives and live it to the fullest, to live out the best version of ourselves and not compromise nor accept mediocrity. John 10:10 says He came that we may have life and have it abundantly. But the devil doesn’t really want that for us and that’s why the bible calls him a thief coming to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10), and an accuser of the brethren (Rev 12:10); always trying to lead us into sin, then turns back to accuse us of the same thing he led us into, he always tries to guilt trip us, making us miserable. But in John 8:15, Jesus reassures again “You judge by human standards; I pass judgement on no one.

So walk with God daily, don’t let the enemy push you into sin or anxiety or make you miserable but even if he does, you have a God that sees your heart and is waiting patiently for you to come back to Him just like in the story of the prodigal son. I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:10).

I also want to talk a little about castigating others that sin differently than you. We tend to create this false illusion on how they would suffer, be condemned or generally fail at life, just because they act in some certain kind of way you perceive as a higher sin. Let me just say this plainly to you “Life does not work that way” so get a hold on yourselves and slow down on the self righteousness. Let your focus lie on becoming a better you than yesterday. John 8:15 “You judge by human standards; I (Jesus) pass judgement on no one”. So let’s do better and love more because love never fails; everything else isn’t certain but love is (1 Cor. 13:8-13).

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