The one thing I keep going back to when I think of freedom is the softly spoken words from God to walk into the freedom I already have.
I don’t know if you’re like me, but I struggle with feelings of guilt and failure. They stop me from giving myself grace and moving forward. Why is it that we really are our own worst critics? Why can we forgive others, but not ourselves? Why don’t we stop punishing ourselves for something that happened a long time ago?
In one way, that’s probably a good sign that we’re not psychopaths. It’s good to feel remorse and guilt. Those “negative” feelings help guide our morality. They make us pay attention to the consequences of our actions and possibly correct our actions.
To wallow in those feelings, though, is not good. I’m all for introspection, but let’s not get stuck there. I often get stuck in my own head, and it benefits nobody. I also get stuck in the guilt. I rehash my failure over and over again, kicking myself the entire time.
When we’re stuck, we’re not living in freedom.
It was a night like every night. There was nothing special about it. I wasn’t feeling excited or down. It was just a regular night when I prayed to God and He asked me a question. Why are you praying like you’re not forgiven?
I realized He was right. I do do that. Of course, I’m a sinner. But why do I keep rehashing my sin?
It’s like standing before a judge who have pardoned all my sins. He struck that gavel and said, “Case dismissed.” But I continue to stand at the Defendant’s table telling the judge how guilty I am.
It’s like standing before a king who pardoned all my crimes, but I continue standing at the foot of his throne listing all the reasons why he should put me to death.
God is both Judge and King. He forgave us, but sometimes we’re still condemning ourselves instead of walking into our freedom.
We wallow in our past sins. We’re listing all the reasons why we’re failures. We’re telling God why we’re not good enough for His plans.
Meanwhile, God is looking at us wondering what we’re talking about because in His eyes, we’re clean. He has forgiven and forgotten our sins. He looks at us and sees how powerful we can be in His kingdom.
I can imagine Him getting fed up. He holds up a hand to stop our mutterings, points to the great beyond, and says, “Go! You’re free. Go do the amazing things I know you can do. I will always be with you, but now you need to get up from the floor and become the person I created you to be.”
Why don’t we do that then?
Let’s get up from the mess. Let’s shake off the lies that keep us down. And let’s go. Let’s go do amazing things for God. Let’s go become the people He created us to be. The Judge and King has dismissed the case against us. Let us walk into our freedom!
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