Devotions Archive Archive: 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 Search Archive Print This Article How much would I pay to feel guilty today? Wednesday, April 28, 1999 John 12:47 Jesus says, "As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it." By all accounts, Jesus lived an exemplary moral life while here with us mere mortals. And he was not prone to the human tendency to find most distasteful in others that which within ourselves we find most disgusting (Romans 2:1). Jesus modeled what God wants for all of us, the ability to love himself and grow from there. Although Jesus speaks in this passage of God's judgment, his emphasis is on God's "saving" forgiveness. A good thing for us; even a quick perusal of Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount makes it obvious that we cannot keep his words as he would like. So why do Christians labor under the burden of guilt and judgment? And why do non-Christians step away from this religion because of their own sense of guilt and fear of "Christian" judgment? I don't really think it's because of how we read the Bible. Instead I think we just prefer the dynamic of guilt to the dynamic of forgiveness. Feeling guilty is a kind of false penance for being guilty. What would we do instead if that feeling of guilt was lifted off us? Forgiveness requires change, growth, new life, accountability. The words sound good, but the habits are tough to establish. God, please let me want the best for myself. And thank you for lifting off my guilt. I want to be more like Jesus. "; Add      Edit    Delete