I’m not sure why it seems to happen more now than ever.
“You made a mistake when you chose your house. The one on the other side of town would’ve been better, but it’s too late now.” Or “You didn’t witness to your friend when you had the chance. Now, it won’t happen.” So on and on the condemning thoughts accuse.
Perhaps you’ve never heard these pesky little voices. I pray you haven’t, and you won’t, but it’s my guess you have.
As I write these words, they don’t have the impact as they did at the time. But when the notions bombarded my brain, the thoughts convinced me to believe them, and I grieved.
But here’s the good news. In prayer today, I took the matter up with the Lord. I sensed His response. “Are the thoughts condemning? Or do they bring life to your soul?”
The Bible says: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1
Do you regret your past? Paul says, “But I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.” Philippians 3:13
Who will you listen to? The condemning voice that I’ve come to realize is the enemy of our souls? Or the Word of God?
Take a breath, fix your eyes on Jesus, and walk bravely into the future.
In book one of my Woodlyn series, the hero, Jess Colton, had to listen to God’s voice instead of the condemning thoughts that said, “You can never be good enough.”
In “Flawless”, Jess grew up with a demanding father he could never please. No matter how hard he tried. Jess even got an advanced degree, but nothing ever seemed enough to earn his dad’s acceptance. So, he turned to alcohol to numb the pain. After he gave his life to the Lord, he realized getting drunk didn’t please God, so he gave up alcohol to honor his Savior. But… he only traded one addiction for another. This time gluttony.
At the beginning of the novel, Jess weighs over 300 pounds and borders upon diabetes. When he meets a beautiful young woman while trapped in an elevator at his apartment complex, he can’t imagine how she would ever consider dating a guy like him.
I can’t reveal the ending, but like me, he had to come to terms with the source of the condemnation and discover who he really was in God’s sight.
The next time you hear a condemning voice, close your mind to it and open up to what God’s Word says.
