You can keep beating yourself up for the wrong you’ve done — but if you’re living through the consequences of your actions, you have suffered enough.  You don’t have to pay it off through your guilt.

There’s a term called “time served” in which an imprisoned defendant is let go after the trial.  He or she has already served time in jail during the trial.  Most lawyers would call this a win because there’s no extended prison sentence. 

Your consequences is your time served.  You have spent dozens of hours in regret, cleaning up your mess, navigating the broken pieces, unable to reclaim what was lost, trying to fix what remains. 

But the devil gets you thinking you have to pay more to compensate for your wrongs.  So we add layers of guilt and self-punishment to appear repentant, and maybe your neighbors and your church and your family will really see that you’re sincere.  Maybe if you sit in the back of worship service with your head down and your hands wringing and your shoulders slumped, people will see you’re really sorry.

Please don’t do this to yourself. 

Jesus came to die for this, too.

He has served all your time, more than you could know.

Continue reading “You Can Quit Punishing Yourself: His Grace Revokes That Too” →