This week I want to specifically encourage those of you who are weighed down by guilt, regret, and shame.
The author of Hebrews tells us the following,
“But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” Hebrews 3:13
I gave a word on this very topic yesterday at the close of service because the Lord has been sharing with me the importance of understanding why He hates sin and why sin is so damaging to our hearts. I asked Him why this is so after He led me to the verse I shared from Hebrews, and He told me that He hates sin because of what sin does to destroy our hearts and that sin hardens the heart by deceiving us into believing that because of our sin we are now unworthy of His love. This feeling of unworthiness due to shame is what inevitably hardens the heart and turns us away from God, but God has provided the solution for this in Christ.
You need to know that Jesus forgives you fully. He proved this by dying on the cross to save us and set us free. The cure for this condition is to know and to trust that even when you sin and miss it, Jesus is ever facing you saying,
“I forgive you. Now, come back to me. I will wash you clean and empower you in my love, mercy, and grace to go and sin no more.”
More and more progressively will we live in this middle road of freedom as we grow to trust that we are loved, forgiven, and free even on our worst day in the middle of our worst mistake. This love, mercy, and grace will empower us to learn how to live more and more free as we learn how loved, forgiven, and new we really are in Jesus. I want to encourage you today to stop beating yourself up for your past sins and to turn back to God and allow Him to shower you in His mercy and grace. He is facing you now and He is not angry with you. My prayer for you today is that you would know the love, forgiveness, and freedom that He extends towards you now and forever more.
Have a blessed week!
- Pastor Shane
