Guilt

The Darkness of Deception

“For, ‘Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech.’” – 1 Peter 3:10 Did you know that the kingdom of darkness is based on deception? The devil’s domain isn’t built on hate (though it is hateful), and it isn’t built on violence either (even though it is violent). Lies are propagated and promoted by the enemy of our soul, especially in the lives of believers. Satan’s power in the world is exercised through luring Christians into some type of deception that prevents them from experiencing Jesus’ total love and reign. By accepting any form of dishonesty, no matter how seemingly harmless, a door is opened for the devil to enter. Let our yeses be yeses and our noes be noes, Jesus says. That is, He expects us to understand what we want to do and don’t want to

November 3, 2021 No Comments

Grace is Greater Than Guilt

“The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.” – 1 Timothy 1:14 Something I’ve learned as I’ve counseled people through the years is that shame always leads to sin and grace always leads to goodness. Nothing helpful comes from self-condemnation and guilt; rather, righteousness and holiness come from a base of grace, or an understanding that acceptance is not dependent upon behavior. The truth is that being emotionally healthy, grounded, and secure is only possible when we understand that in Christ, we are loved just as we are. God knew we were helpless to help ourselves, so He stooped down to us when we were still sinners and made us righteous by the blood of Jesus. This means that if we’ve said “yes” to our Savior’s redemption, we’ve already attained perfection in His eyes. And while

August 5, 2021 No Comments

No Shame On You

“Instead of your shame you will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace you will rejoice in your inheritance. And so you will inherit a double portion in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours.” – Isaiah 61:7 It’s hard to receive love when we have guilt and shame in our lives. Shame happens when there’s something about ourselves that we hate so much that we don’t let anybody else see it. We fear rejection due to our lack of perfection, and this keeps us in a pattern of hiding — at least partially — from the very connection that can set us free. If we deal with this kind of self-condemnation and guilt, it’s important to remember that everyone who we think is perfect is not nearly as infallible as we think they are. And while we don’t want to gloat in the struggles of others, it’s

August 1, 2021 No Comments

A Visionless Church

“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” – Colossians 2:8 Yesterday, I told you about my uber-religious elementary school teacher who instilled major fear in me and my fellow classmates. By reinforcing the idea that we should live with constant anxiety about going to hell so that we continually confess our sins, she introduced a toxic theology that was focused exclusively on what you can’t do. Unfortunately, she was not alone in her dogmatic and fear-based beliefs — such thinking has pervaded many sectors of the church for generations. The major problem with this kind of dogma is that it stifles our souls. When we’re constantly fixated on giving things up without having a greater reason, we become joyless and lackluster. If we need proof of

June 10, 2021 No Comments

For Your Good and His Glory

“Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.” – Job 13:15 Many times, the enemy will try to harm us by using our misfortunes to fill us with shame and guilt. However, the wonderful thing about God is that He delights in turning seemingly dire and hopeless situations around for our good and His glory! There’s a story in the Old Testament about a guy named Job, who was an exceptional person. He loved God with all of his heart, and he was a hard-working, decent family man. However, out of the blue, tragedy struck him, and he lost everything he held dear — his livestock, his wife, his children, his friends, and his health. And while it seems his circumstances would have been enough to make any human being crumble, Job had a choice to make: he could

March 11, 2021 No Comments

Let Go of Your Guilt

“How much more then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” -Hebrews 9:14

December 9, 2016 1 Comment

The Darkness of Deception

Grace is Greater Than Guilt

No Shame On You

A Visionless Church

For Your Good and His Glory

Let Go of Your Guilt

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