An Unnecessary Weight

          Condemnation is pointless. It does nothing but produce a trail that encircles a drain into hopelessness.

Think about it. Condemnation is harsh. You notice something wrong about yourself. Perhaps you lied or cheated. You wronged a loved one. You mistreated those around you. Your addiction continues to overcome your life. Your obsessive habits control you and you are but a slave to the need for comfort and change.

In those realizations, lies shame. The sick heavy feeling that we all know.
So the next step is obvious: do something.
Isolate the problem, find a solution, act upon it and move on. A simple and easy three step cure?

           Unfortunately it doesn’t work. It might take a few days, or a few months or even a year, but eventually whatever you ran from has returned with a vengeance and you fall quickly into the sin once again. I believe this to be true in both the spheres of believers and non-believers. The cycle of sin - guilt - self condemnation - action – failure. An exhausting cycle that leaves hopeless.

          There is however, another option. I have recently been processing that not many people make the clear distinction between conviction and condemnation (myself included of course). My favorite example of this comes from Genesis 3:

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food,
and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to
be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit
and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her,
and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened,
and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves
together and made themselves loincloths.

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden
in the cool of the day, and the man and his
wife hid themselves from the presence of the
Lord God among the trees of the garden.
But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

          Adam and Eve have just committed sin – knowingly as most of us do – and quickly hide. As God enters the garden, He does so with purpose. Not to condemn, demand better actions, and leave. But He asks questions. Instead of being angry – as He should be – He has opened His arms to them. In the midst of their broken, rebellious heart, He invites them to be honest in love.

          Upon making any mistake, we get a feeling. A nudge, a quiet voice, something telling us “uh-oh.” For believers, listen. It’s not condemning. It quickly turns into that all familiar shame. But I want to make the point that conviction is nothing of the sort. It is not harsh or rude. It will not produce more guilt. Conviction, in God's grace, is again the invitation to freedom. Sin leads us to death, a separation from God. And thus, when we are convicted, it is a kind opportunity to be forgiven of a specific sin. It is not God's displeasure but is diligent love. While condemnation is a pounding reminder of failure and missing the bar; conviction is a reminder of Christ's righteousness, over stepping the bar. Perfectly living for us when we cannot do anything but stumble and fall without Him.

          We are beggars, sinners, and wanderers. But we never wander too far from home, from God. I wish many of you could read this and see. Read and understand how wrong I am in my vision of God, and in your own perception of how He responds to our sin. He is not condemning. There is no amount of guilt or shame that we are supposed to feel to come home. God’s words are not harsh and angry. He has not abandoned us. Condemnation is from the enemy and from our heart turning us away from the gospel. Conviction on the other hand, that is straight from God. And what I have experienced for the past few months, is much more freeing than my vicious cycle.

          Conviction illuminates our sin, brightly shone in the light of the Cross. But on the Cross it is demolished. Christ’s death removes all shame, guilt, and self-condemnation. God’s voice is gentle, soft and inviting. It is beautiful and full of honesty, love, devotion, and trust. Conviction brings us into His arms. It reminds us of the many promises that we already have in Christ. We come exactly as we are – broken, twisted, rebellious, and full of sin. But God sees past all of that, directly to Jesus. We are invited to look past our sin too, healed, covered in grace, we are invited to follow Him again.

I leave you with a beautiful song chorus:

So lay down your burdens
Lay down your shame
All who are broken
Lift up your face
Oh wanderer come home
You’re not too far
So lay down your hurt
Lay down your heart
Come as you are