Convicted

Here’s a repost from Frank Viola’s Blog:

I’ve often said that good preachers leave you saying, “What a great sermon!” While great preachers leave you saying, “Wow, what a Christ!”

On that score, some churches have created a culture of guilt. Every sermon preached is judged by how guilty it makes the listeners feel. The more guilty, the better. And if there’s no guilt, the sermon was a dud.In these churches, the guilt is described by the term “conviction.”

Continue here: http://frankviola.org/2016/09/29/convicted/

How…

did guilt and shame so easily replace love and care?

Grace is ours to accept, grasp and to share.

I’m so angry with you

This is never God’s heart towards you. No matter what you have done He wants nothing more than to meet you with compassion, mercy and love. He knows that if you will allow Him He can take whatever you are in the middle of and turn it into something wonderful. Don’t isolate yourself out of guilt or shame, it is not for you to decide what your punishment should be and separation from the Lord is certainly not the answer. Run to Him, He has just what you need.

I’m Ashamed of You

You’ll never hear, I’m ashamed of you from God. Webster’s defines ashamed as: feeling shame, guilt, and disgrace, feeling inferior or unworthy. No matter what you might do it’s not possible to put these things on Him. Sure, there are times when we should feel shame or guilt as result of a poor choice we’ve made but it’s not going to disgrace God or make Him feel inferior. Likewise we don’t need to let others add to our shame or make us feel inferior. God is proud of you! He thinks you’re incredible. He totally understands how hard this life can be because He’s been through it all. Anything that keeps you from Him is not good and that includes shame.

Take a Break

Really, it’s okay. It’s actually an order. God created us to need rest. Not just sleep
but also what we call today, down time. The world with all of its technology
and distractions is stealing our rest. We may not always be working but we’re usually
doing. Sometimes we can even be inactive but feeling so guilty about it that it
is not restful. It’s so important to allow yourself and those around you to
rest.

No Guilt

If yesterday’s post was too familiar and the result was feeling guilty, I’m sorry. God never intends to shame us, that’s not Him, guilt is a crappy motivator. His desire to walk with us at all times is for our benefit, not His. He, way more than us, knows what’s best and with Him is always what’s best.

Guilt

“There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus.” If that’s true then why are we manipulated so often by guilt to “do more for the Lord”?