I love reading. I always have but during college, it was very hard to find the time to read for fun. Now that I’m on the race, I don’t go a day without reading. I’ve finished more than a dozen books thus far, including all of Harry Potter, and one book I read inspired this blog.
Reading Before Amen by Max Lucado started off with one of the worst imaginable situations for book-lovers: pages 3 & 4 were RIPPED OUT OF THE BOOK. WHO DOES THAT?! Whoever you are and wherever you are, I really hope that page spoke some insane truth over you (not that I’ll ever know since you ripped it out and deprived me of the opportunity to read said truth myself) and that you had an EXTREMELY good reason for ripping it out and ruining the book. Anyway, after recovering from the near panic attack caused by said missing page, and almost deciding to put the book down and not read it because I couldn’t stand the idea of skipping a page, I ended up reading the book and I’m sure glad I did.
How often do we find ourselves feeling like the weight of our sins and mistakes will overwhelm us? How often do we hold on to our guilt and shame? The answer, for most people, is too often. Jesus died on the cross to take away ALL of our sins- not just the big ones, not just the little ones, not just the ones that other people found out about- ALL of them. God gave His only son so that you could trade in all your guilt and shame for eternal life. “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8). So, do it! Give your sins, your guilt, EVERYTHING over to the Lord and ask Him to take it from you.
Jesus was perfect. He has every right to judge us for our mistakes but He doesn’t. John 12:47 assures us of this when Jesus says that He did not come to judge the world but to save it. Lucado points out that Jesus “has the final word on your life. And his word is grace (63).” Grace means that we don’t get what we deserve meaning, we don’t get the death we deserve for our sins. We don’t have to worry; we are already forgiven by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. “[F]or all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24-25). Wait, who did that say gets this free grace? ALL. Does that include you and me? Absolutely. Even if God finds out about that one horrible thing you did that one time? Well frankly, He already knows but He still loves you and wants to bear your guilt and shame. There is NOTHING, no sin too terrible or too big to make Jesus turn His back on you. He will ALWAYS forgive you and His grace is freely available to you. In Mark 3:28 Jesus tells us that “people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter.” Which sins? All of them.
Aside from making yourself miserable, guilt and shame can be dangerous. Lucado reminds us that “Satan traffics in guilt…” and he wants us to hold on to all of our shame (64). He wants us to feel alone and he doesn’t want us to know that we are forgiven. We are so strong when we know in our hearts that we are children of God and that is exactly what Satan doesn’t want us to believe. Stop thinking of yourself as a failure or a mistake. You may make mistakes or you may fail but you are not a failure. That is how Satan wants you to think and when we believe these lies, he has power over us. So, borrowing words from Lucado again, “for heaven’s sake, stop tormenting yourself” (64). Let Jesus take away all your sin, shame, and guilt. He has already forgiven you- it is time for you to forgive yourself.
God loves you so much and if you’ve never had a relationship with Him, He is longing for you to turn to Him. He already knows your past and He doesn’t care- He still wants to invite you to eat at His table. He still wants to give you grace and mercy. You are His child and He wants you to come home. Still not sure? Check out Luke 15 (my favorite chapter of the Bible). Jesus tells three parables: the Parable of the Lost Sheep, the Parable of the Lost Coin, and the Parable of the Lost Son or the Prodigal Son. All three stories talk about finding what is lost, a sheep, a coin, and eventually, a son. In each story there is rejoicing and gladness when each lost item is found. Jesus tells the gathered crowd that “…there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent” (Luke 15:7). And then, He again says that “…there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner wo repents” (Luke 15:10).
If you still aren’t convinced, then look at the story of the Prodigal Son. This son does everything wrong. He wishes his father was dead, runs away, squanders all of his inheritance and then has the audacity to return to his father’s house and you know how the father reacts? He rejoices– not exactly the reaction any of us would expect but that is because this parable is explaining the truly unconditional love that the Lord has for us. No matter how far we stray away, He patiently waits for us to come back and when we do, He throws a huge party in Heaven and rejoices! He says the same thing that the father in this story says as justification for celebration: “‘[f]or this son of mine was dead and is alive again: he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate” (Luke 15:24). God loves you and will always love you. It’s as simple as that.
For my country music fans out there, myself included, the song “Hurry Home” by Jason Michael Carroll sums up the love that God has for each of us, even when we have gone astray. In the song, a father is singing to his daughter who has left home, much like the prodigal son. Here is the chorus:
‘It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, I still love.
It doesn’t matter where you’ve been, you can still come home.
Honey if it’s you, we’ve got a lot of making up to do
And I can’t hug you on the phone so hurry home.’
Just like this father, God wants us to come home. He wants you to come home. He doesn’t need your feeble apologies or explanations, He simply wants you. He will take away all your guilt, shame, and sin and shower you with forgiveness and grace. He loves you because you are His child.
Thanks for reading and if anyone has a copy of Before Amen and would like to read me pages 3 & 4 over Facetime, Facebook call, or WhatsApp, it would be greatly appreciated. And if you were the one who ripped out said page from Quinta Casa Blanca’s copy of the book, I hope you put that page to very, VERY good use but don’t worry, Jesus and I both forgive you.
