As I write this it’s a beautiful sunshiny day, however there is a large winter storm looming on the western horizon.
It makes me think about how many of us have a love for Jesus, yet also carry shame for things we have done. The guilt threatens us like a low-pressure weather system pouring a mix of depression and unworthiness.
Even though you know you are forgiven, you can’t escape the troubling idea that your past disqualifies you from really counting for much in the Lord. You’ve blown it so badly, not just once but many times. You’ve made such intentional and deep-seated departures from Jesus’ love and instruction that the best you can now imagine is that the Lord will only just accept you…barely.
Feel like giving up? Feel like leaving? That’s okay.
Some of the most important changes in our lives involve some kind leaving, but then a kind of home-coming. The prodigal son packed his bags and left for a distant country, but then he packed his bags again and returned home. He was never the same. He was a changed man.
It’s about leaving the old ways of thinking and doing, and having something beautiful born inside of you. Having something born in you that wasn’t there before. Learning to love yourself and learning to love others. God wants to make this kind of character transformation in your life. Where before you might have been a person with an extreme temper, after God makes changes in your life you become someone who can hardly get bothered. Resentful people become gracious celebrators of others’ blessings. Bitter people become filled with contentment.
God’s plan is to recover you so completely that you become a living miracle. Jesus announced that people like you…
“…will be called a priest of the Lord, a minister of our God…Instead of shame and dishonor, you will enjoy a double share of honor.” (Is 61:6, 7, NLT)
It doesn’t matter to what extent you’ve made wrong choices. It is not about the past which you’ll never be able to escape. No. You serve a God who is alive. You serve a God who is real. You serve a God who can and wants to make huge changes in you.
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