Jesus Freed Us from Guilt & Shame

In SEVEN places God promises, “Whoever trusts in Me will NEVER be put to shame” (Isaiah 28:16, Romans 9:33, 10:11, 1 Peter 2:6, Joel 2:26-27, Isaiah 45:17, 54:4). Shame literally means disgrace. It is the opposite of grace. Shame is also a synonym for "a feeling of guilt." God will never make someone who is saved feel guilty.

2 Corinthians 2:11 says to be aware of Satan's schemes. Scripture says that Satan is the accuser of God's family (Revelation 12:10 & Zechariah 3:1). Accuser means "one who charges with guilt." Thus one of Satan's schemes is to make you feel guilty.

"Convict" is a direct synonym of the word "condemn." Convict means "to declare guilty." Condemnation is a "pronouncement of guilt." Romans 8:1 says there is NO condemnation in Christ. God will not charge His child with guilt.

One definition of the word righteous is "guiltless." Romans 5:17 says righteousness is a gift we receive. Romans 3:22 says we receive that gift by trusting Jesus (getting saved). God pronounces us as guiltless not as guilty. No condemnation means no guilt, he never charges us with guilt. 2 Corinthians 5:19 & Romans 4:8 say God doesn't even charge us with sin.

If you feel accused, shamed, or guilty, it is either your flesh or Satan himself making you feel that way. You can feel compassion, sympathy, & empathy for someone you've wronged without feeling guilt or shame. Romans 2:4 says, "It is God's kindness that leads you toward changing your mind for the better."

Romans 12:2 says to "be transformed by the renewing of your mind." You cannot trust your so called conscious if your mind is not renewed. 1 John 3:2 says that "our hearts condemn us." Unrenewed minds will accept the accusations of Satan & the condemnation of their own hearts as the voice of God. I used to do it myself.

No Rehashing
God has never made me feel guilt or shame for my old sinful ways. I used to think He did but I found the truth & realized that it was my own self-centered sense of shame doing it to me. One of the word's translated as "shame" in the New Testament carries the idea of "a turning in upon oneself." Shame is a self-centered pity party that moves you away from wanting to interact with God.

God no longer remembers the sins of His people (Hebrews 8:12,10:17) so He certainly hasn't shown me something about my "old sinful ways." He forgot them & there isn't an evidence in the world that I have to confess or repent of them to get Him to continue to forget them as I go on in life. His forgetting is part of the New Covenant.

Why would God want me to dwell on old sins anyway? He told us to dwell on good & pure things in Philippians 4:8 so what makes us think there is any good in seeing the wretchedness of something we used to do, heck or even something we've done yesterday?

Loving without Guilt
I'll either be blind to loving someone
OR it will be a process of me understanding a person & how to love them
OR God will reveal a piece of their heart to me to where if I hurt someone it isn't about ME feeling bad about what I'VE done, it is about me caring for the person I've hurt & reconciling with them. I will hurt inside in that case but I will be hurting for them not for myself & my performance as a Christian.

Rant on Lies I've Been Told

When you know God's love, you will simply love the right way. Much of the New Testament was written to specific people with specific problems. We shouldn't impose their weaknesses upon ourselves. It is like a non-smoker taking advice on how to quit smoking. For someone who has never smoked chewing nicotine gum does no good. Sadly most approach the bible this way. Regardless of if they share the struggle mentioned in a scripture people condemn themselves as if they must have that struggle simply because scripture said people struggled with that. People are worse off trying to obey scriptures that have nothing to do with them than they are if they ignored those scriptures all together.

I remember many times in churches being told that you need to question your salvation..
if you're not in a trial or coming out of a trial
if God doesn't regularly “take you to the woodshed" to beat you

To put those in other words, you need to question your salvation..
if you don't get mega-stressed in life to where you see everything as a trial & life as utter suffering
if you don't feel guilt & shame regularly (also called being “broken")

How are such lies justified? Like this..
When you don't feel guilty you must be especially guilty because you don't even recognize it.
If God isn't beating you it is because he has put you on the shelf (As if life were all about being ”used by God” as a tool, we aren't tools, don't let someone call you a tool).

I'm still told things like this today,
“Saying you don't struggle with the flesh is like saying you don't breathe.” Really? The bible says, “we wrestle not against FLESH & blood" thus if we struggle with the flesh something is wrong with our mindset. I have a victorious spirit. The bible teaches self control (spirit control over the flesh) it does not teach “death to self" or self degradation.

“God gets greatly offended at you for your behavior." Really? Offend means, ”to make angry.” ON THE BLOOD OF HIS OWN SON God promised to never be angry with me again (Isaiah 54:9-10, Matthew 26:28, Colossians 1:20). That takes care of the whole woodshed non-sense too. When ever I heard ”God whoops you or you aren't his kid” I thought to myself, “God doesn't do that to me maybe I'm not a Christian." Then I had to remind myself of how He saved me by grace & lovingly proved Himself to me over the years.

I've heard other people talk about being told the lie, “if things go wrong you must be in sin & God is punishing you." I believed that to some extent but I was also told the lie, “if things are going right for too long you need to question your salvation.“ What kind of sick messed up religious garbage is that? “If anything goes wrong it is your fault & God is punishing you for what you've done. But if things go right.. you need to question your salvation because you should ALWAYS be going through trials.“ That may sound “double minded" but in fact it is single minded, it is 100% condemnation! My heart never wanted to believe these lies but my mind felt like it should. Thank God for His truth which leads to freedom!

I typically hold back from speaking from personal experience & opinion but I don't care right now because I hate the bondage of lies so much. I've never told someone not to go to church because they need to listen to God & not to me. But deep inside I honestly believe that you cannot go to an institutional church service without being poisoned in some way every single time. As time goes on I become more & more convinced of that.

Trusting in God's Love is Not Risky

God is always better than we think He is. Scripture says it is impossible to come to a full knowledge of His love. Even though you enjoy God you could be believing a lie that keeps you from enjoying Him even more.

I don't understand the hesitancy people have to believe me when I say, "Our life in Christ Jesus can be even better than you think.."

So many Christians refuse to suspend their disbelief and take a step on faith saying, "Maybe God is good enough to not require me to confess sins to Him," or "Maybe God is good enough to not count my actions against me." Not taking that step either comes from an unhealthy fear of God (the kind that doesn't understand His perfect love) or from the pride of not wanting to be wrong. Take a risk and trust in His love. You won't regret it.

How I View the Deceived

Being someone who was once deceived by religion myself I can't really look down on others. I think I have always been open to God rather than having a strong affinity about what I believe as to be unwilling to let it go. However there were some times I changed my mind about things too fast.

I wonder why I've learned what I've learned and experienced what I've experienced. I ask "Why me God?" in a positive way. So much of who I am, not willing to conform to the world, willing to research and study, is just natural. I didn't try to be like this. It was easy. As I go on I realize much is because my parents loved me so well.

I've seen people be unable to entertain the idea that they could be wrong about something. I've heard of Christians on their death bed dying in misery thinking God was punishing them all because they don't understand God's love for them. My life does seem to be "There but for the grace of God go I." I don't think God will punish His children for their disbelief but He might show them what kind of wonderful life on earth they could have had if they had trusted Him more.

I guess I see people as victims of lies, even those who teach the lies are victims of them. Seldom does someone knowingly teach a lie, but they are certain about things which are terribly false. While I hate the positions and traditions that harm people I don't wish people would "get what's coming to them" based on what they believe and how they behave. What every Christian has coming to them is the love of God because of what Christ did for them. I just wish they knew it. The first step to believing the truth is to know that it exists.

Matthew 9:36 really shows me how God views the world, not with contempt for disbelief and disobedience, but with compassion. "When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd."