How To Live A Life Free Of Guilt Or Shame

Last updated on: November 30, 2015 at 11:25 am by Jack Wellman

How To Live A Life Free Of Guilt Or Shame 2015-11-30T11:25:23-06:00 Jack Wellman

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Are you living day by day in shame or guilt? Here’s the way to lead a life free from guilt or shame.

Shame on Us?

Why do Christians live in shame? It may be because the Spirit of God is convicting them of a sin that they’ve refused to repent of. It could be that they are ashamed because they got caught in their sin. It could also be the enemy trying to make someone feel that they’re unworthy of being called a Christian. Remember that Satan is the accuser of the Christians who accuses them both day and night, non-stop (Rev 12:10). It’s one thing to be accused of something but if they’ve been cleared or forgiven, there is no reason for shame. If a criminal received a pardon from the governor, and that prisoner walked free, others might try to shame him or her into feeling guilty but they’ve been pardoned by the highest state authority there is and they don’t have anything to be ashamed of anymore. For the one who has repented and trusted in Christ, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1) Elsewhere, Paul writes that since “we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Rom 5:1-2).

Washed All Our Sins Away

For everyone who’s been born again, they have had all of their sins washed away (Acts 22:16). Peter told the Jews on the Day of Pentecost to “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). The psalmist prayed to God, “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin” (Psalm 51:2). Can you imagine God not answering that prayer? Of course he did, as we read later in this chapter. In the Old Testament, the animal sacrifices could never take away sins, they only covered them as the author of Hebrews writes, “For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (Heb 9:13-14). It was the Lord Jesus Christ Who “After making purification for sins…sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Heb 1:3) and that is where He sits today. By His sitting down at the right hand of the Father, He indicates that His redemptive work is done, once and for all.

Washing the Guilt and Shame Away

Since “Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God” (Heb 10:12) and by sitting down, He reveals that it truly is finished (John 19:30) so why worry over sin that’s already been taken away? That’s a double jeopardy you’re imposing on yourself so if you’re still living in shame or guilt, then you haven’t realized that Jesus paid it all and that eternal life is a free gift from God and no work of our own can help in any way (Eph 2:8-9). You can’t add a single drop of works, guilt, or shame to make your salvation any surer that it already is. There is absolutely no reason for it. When the religious crowd brought a woman caught in adultery, they forgot about the man! Why didn’t they bring him before Jesus? This shows their double standard. When Jesus convicted the crowd by saying “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7) they all left and only Jesus and the woman were left. Jesus then asked her who was left to accuse her and “She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more” (John 8:11). The condemnation has been lifted…there is no more reason for that woman to be caught up in shame or any kind of guilt. This explains the author of Hebrews telling the Jewish Christians that “the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (Heb 9:14). That purifying of the conscious means there’s no reason to have a guilty or shamed conscious anymore. Jesus “sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself” (Heb 7:27b) so why keep digging them up? God has buried our sins in the sea of forgetfulness and then posted a “No Fishing” sign.

Beyond the Guilt and Shame

If someone’s still feeling guilty or feeling shame, they either don’t understand grace and the full redemptive work of Jesus’ blood at Calvary, they are still living in sin and God’s Spirit is convicting them, or they’ve never been saved in the first place. “Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death” (2nd Cor 7:10) so the key is to learn the difference between worldly guilt or shame and the conviction by the Holy Spirit. If you still feel that Christ’s sacrifice wasn’t enough “then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Heb 9:26) but since “he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption” (Heb 9:12). Can’t we trust in the sacrifice that Jesus gave? Do you think it wasn’t enough?

Conclusion

If you have been born again, you have no more reason to live in shame or guilt. Read John chapter 6 and 10 and Romans chapter 5 and 8. These chapters should really help you free yourself from a self-imposed guilt. Shame and guilt are not from God but from the enemy. Conviction is from God. Learn the difference and you can more easily live a life free form guilt or shame.

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.

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