No Condemnation

I cleaned up the kitchen mess, kissed the kids goodnight and headed off to church to meet with other church leaders for our quarterly meeting. I got out my pen to take notes and realized I hadn't brought my Bible. I chided myself inwardly, thinking, "What kind of spiritual leader can I be?" I hadn't read the Bible much that week and I felt a nagging guilty feeling for not doing more of my ministry responsibilities either.

The pastor began to speak about the traits that make a resilient leader and the sense of failure and condemnation began to grow and burn in my chest. You know, that hollow feeling you get when you realize you don't measure up? The emptiness that reminds you that you're still a great sinner and that you are not the holy person you want to be?

"Everyone must notice this sin (critical spirit, gossip, lying, you name it...)in me... God must be so disappointed in me....I'm such a terrible Christian " and on and on went my thoughts.

As I sorted through my feelings later that night, I turned to God's Word for truth.

Romans 12:1 "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

How is it, then, that I get so caught up in these emotions of condemnation?

And how do I know if God is convicting me of sin of which I need to repent or whether it's something that just false condemnation? How do I know the difference?

As I searched the Scriptures and received the counsel of godly men, I came to understand a few ways to distinguish between the condemnation of Satan and the conviction of God.

God's conviction is always very precise. He doesn't convict me of being a "bad" person, but He convicts me of specific sins. The enemy, who is called our accuser, only deals in generalities. Satan points his finger at me and calls me names but he doesn't cut deep to the real sin issues in my heart. Only God does that.

As I sorted through my thoughts after that meeting, I realized that some of what I heard was God's conviction, His gentle, kind hand of correction upon my heart. It caused me to repent, to seek Him for change in my life. But some of the other feelings I had that night were clearly not from God. The general sense of failure and hopelessness as a sinner was not from God, but from the enemy.

There is a great sense of peace in knowing that in Christ, there is no longer any condemnation for my sin. There is only forgiveness, grace and the hope of healing.
Action Points:

1. Have you been weighed down by a feeling of condemnation? What Scriptures can you cling to this week as assurances of hope and forgiveness?

2. Test your feelings of condemnation against the truth of Romans 8:1. Memorize this verse to stand up against the lies and accusations of Satan in your life.


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