Daily Bread for 09-13-10

Psalm 38:4 – My guilt overwhelms me – it is a burden to heavy to bear.

My family went on a vacation to the east coast over the summer. Traveling with a three and a four year old can be tricky, so Mike and I pulled out all the stops. We hit the dollar aisles at Target and packed the kids’ carry-on bags full of games and snacks.

Caitlyn wanted to carry her backpack all by herself, which is par for the course for my independent daughter. The only problem was that it probably weighed almost as much as she did! She would strap it on her back, wobble back and forth, and then stumble forward as we made our way through the airport.

I asked her several times if mommy could help, and each time got a loud “NO!” for my efforts. Finally, she got frustrated and threw it down on the floor. I leaned down and gently picked her up. Then, with backpack in one arm and daughter in the other, we walked toward the gate.

We all walk through life with luggage. You can’t see it, but it’s there.

A boyfriend or girlfriend dumps you without so much as a phone call…a friend betrays a secret…an inattentive parent…the untimely death of a loved one…the wandering eyes of spouse that lead to divorce…things that attach themselves to us in the form of baggage.  And we carry them through life, vowing to put them down at the next rest stop.  But most of the time, we simply pick it back up without even knowing we’re doing it, and we carry it into the next relationship, or the next job, or the next church.

No piece of luggage weighs us down more than the trunk full of guilt. I got in a terrible fight with someone I love over a year ago, and if I let myself dwell on it, I can still recall the feelings of shame that took months to shed.

Guilt and shame are two of the most effective weapons the enemy has. Long after God has forgiven our sins, the enemy will whisper in our ear, causing us to play the same old scenario over and over and over. And as Christians, when we cart that kind of baggage around it renders us nearly useless.

If you have sincerely sought the forgiveness of both God and man, then you are commanded to put that baggage down! Isaiah 43:18-19a – But forget all that – it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do a brand-new thing. See, I have already begun! If you are burdened by guilt, then be encouraged! God wants to pick up those burdens so you can run free.

I can’t even begin to tell you how tempted I was to believe the enemy’s lies about my problems with alcohol and an eating disorder. I truly believed that if anyone ever found out I’d be ruined. Finally, at the nudging of the Holy Spirit, I put those burdens down by giving them to Christ. And He told me to talk about them.

Shame can only survive in secret. Once you let the light of Jesus shine into every dank, dark corner of your past, your past has no power over you.

None of us are so very different, you know. Romans 3:23 says, For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard. We’ve all done things we wish we could take back. And I’ve found that those who judge others by their shortcomings have no shortage of their own.

Dear Heavenly Father, today we ask You to just fill us. Please, just fill us so full of Your Holy Spirit that everything worldly is pushed out. Please help us to put down the burdens of inadequacy, guilt, shame, unworthiness, fear, anxiety, and anything else we’ve been carrying. Help us instead to see ourselves as You see us; beautiful children of the Most High God, given a divine purpose and gifted with everything we’ll ever need to accomplish it. Please break the chains of anything holding us back from joyful obedience and service to You. Please bless us to bless others. We ask these things with a spirit of victory, because we ask them in the Holy, Perfect Name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.