The Gift of Freedom

This is the final post of a six-part mini-series. To read from the beginning, click here.

Today we’re wrapping things up. We covered guilt, shame, self-hatred, condemnation, judgment, and self-abuse. Then we added (most beautifully!) forgiveness.

And this is where this morning’s post begins.

I suppose I wrestled a bit in choosing to write what you’re about to read. Partly because it’s a topic about which I feel so deeply, and partly because I’m still a work in progress.

But — aren’t we all?

I may have yet to arrive at my destination, but the important part is that I’m walking it out. The real trouble comes when one lays down. Refuses to move forward. Dies.

Today I want to talk about freedom.

In the last post, I briefly mentioned how we have to forgive ourselves. If you’re anything like me, YOU are not the first person on your hit-list.

…at least, you don’t THINK you are.

But you see, if you want freedom from guilt — from condemnation, from shame,  from self-hatred and judgment — then you must forgive yourself. You are holding yourself in a self-imposed prison of punishment, abusing yourself because you think you deserve it.

I’ll wait while that sinks in a little.

(In the gentlest tone that I can possibly present electronically), why would you condemn yourself if you didn’t think you were bad?

You see, when God looks at you, He doesn’t see ‘bad.’
He sees Jesus and the Blood.
He sees beauty, He sees grace, He sees peace, He sees delight.
He sees love.

If you’re having issues feeling or receiving the Father’s love, chances are you need to forgive yourself. You can’t open your hand to love if you’re still grasping tightly to unworthiness.

Once you loose your hold on guilt and sever your mental agreements with the lies of the enemy, you are free to come into agreement with the truths of your Father — to see yourself the way He sees you and feel His delight over you.

“Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” Luke 7:47

There’s a correlation between forgiveness and love:
little forgiveness = little love.
big forgiveness = big love.

At the beginning of this post, I mentioned that we were “wrapping things up” tonight. Well, let’s do it. Will you join me?

Take the biggest box you can find. Throw into it all of the shame, guilt, condemnation, self-hatred, and LIES that have been lurking here and there within your heart. Shove the lid shut. Wrap the box up in the prettiest paper you can imagine — the forgiveness that comes through the sacrifice of Christ. To top it off, stick on the most captivatingly gorgeous bow of God’s love. (Hint: it’s a bow so big that you can’t even lift it!) Gaze upon the beauty. Take in it. The best part? Your nastiness isn’t just out of sight — it’s gone. That pretty paper doesn’t just conceal; it converts.

Family, God can take our ugliness and turn it into beauty. He can take those things that were meant to ruin us and turn them into a healing gift for the hurting around us .

YOU are not bad. YOU are a gift.
Forgiven.
Set free.
Abounding in love.

This is your portion. Will you accept it?