Reading through the eighth chapter of Doctrine by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears entitled “Cross, God Dies”, I came across a great piece of information that I’d apparently begun to forget about and, as a result, became enslaved to guilt over my own past. Through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross I’m not only set free from the consequences of my sin, but the record of them against me is totally erased and my GUILT is also removed from me. If I am still living with the stink of my own guilt over things that I’ve done and the things that have been done to me, it si not a problem with the sufficiency of Jesus’ sacrifice, but with me not trusting in Him that it has been removed. I need to quit kneeling at the altar of self-pity. Jesus has crushed that idol and its hold on me. I need to stand up, dust myself off, and worship the God who saved me – who destroyed not only the idol and its altar, but the record of all things that are offensive to God.
What about you? Are you still suffering through the stench of your own past? If you have repented of your sinful life and trusted in Jesus that His sacrifice is sufficent to pay for your sins, then Jesus has washed you clean. Stand up and forsake that altar of guilt and turn to Him who saved you for restoration. You are not defined by what you were, what you’ve done, or what was done to you. You are a new creation, crafted by the hands of the God who saved you for His purpose and you are beautiful in His eyes. In the end, that’s all that really matters.