Bless the Lord, O my
soul, and forget not all His benefits: who forgives all your iniquities,
who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns
you with lovingkindness and tender mercies. Psalm 103:2–4
Not too long ago, I was driving out for lunch
with my wife, Wendy, and for some reason, every time she made a passing
comment, I found myself snapping irritably at her or making an unnecessarily
provocative remark. Have you had one of those days?
When I reflected on why I was so irritable, I
realized it was because I was actually feeling guilty about a couple of matters
from earlier in the day. I hadn’t necessarily done anything wrong, but I’d just
allowed a little bit of guilt to creep into my heart and unconsciously allowed
condemnation to come in.
My friend, when you are walking under a cloud
of judgment, you can become a really unpleasant person to be around. Trust me,
I know what I am talking about. Even if you are an author of books about God’s
grace and forgiveness, there can be moments where condemnation creeps into your
heart and you are completely oblivious to it.
I thank God that when Wendy asked me if there
was a reason for my irritability, He gave me that moment of clarity where I
could see the condition of my heart. And praise Jesus for a discerning and
perceptive wife who didn’t take my remarks personally and knew something was
not right with me. I remember telling her to let me know the next time she
noticed such behavior from me, because it’s so easy to slip into condemnation
and guilt.
When you’re under guilt and condemnation, all
day long you can feel lousy, and all your answers have a sting in them. That’s
not the abundant life, and you know what it all comes back to? It comes back to
having a constant sense of God’s forgiveness over your life. Instead of taking
in and harboring all the guilt, condemnation, and judgment, we need to stand
secure in our perfect forgiveness in Jesus.
There
is a redeeming quality to being forgiveness-conscious, as opposed to being
conscious of your failings, sins, and mistakes. When you are
forgiveness-conscious and see your failings on the cross of Jesus, you receive
power to break out of your irritability, impatience, and short-temperedness
with others. You receive power to break out of your eating disorders,
addictions, and anxieties! When you realize that we don’t deserve God’s
forgiveness and grace yet He gives it to us anyway, this revelation of His
unmerited favor changes us from within. It dissolves the knots of anger and
impatience in us that have built up over the years and frees us to enjoy God’s
love and to show it to others! (Article & Picture; courtesy of Joseph Prince Ministries used with kind permission).
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