Let the Holy Spirit open your heart to receive his mercy and pardon, and accept His grace fully and joyfully. If we are to be freed from our self-induced guilt, we must first turn to Him, repent of our sins that have gotten us into this mess to begin with, those sins known and unknown. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance…cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Cost of Discipleship “Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. What’s wrong with giving ourselves grace? The answer is nothing…as long as your heart is first open to the full grace in Christ.
This seems all well and good, this premise that we free ourselves from our guilt, that we tell ourselves “It’s okay!” But the more I prayed on these words, the more I felt a nagging voice urging me to look further and dig deeper. These words often bring me some peace, but what do they mean? How does this work? I call out from the wreckage, and my friends, dear sisters in Christ, send me these lovely words: I allow the guilt to shove me to the ground where I feel desperate and alone, wondering how I’ll ever manage to stand back up. I try desperately to ignore this inner voice, this whisper that points out my shortcomings and failures. How can you stand to have a lawn of dying weeds among all these lush landscapes of your neighbors? You’ve fed your son buttered noodles and broccoli for five nights in a row! You’d have more counter space if you just cleaned. Your daughter’s baby book is waiting to be finished, and you haven’t even ordered recent pictures. The whispered thoughts attack me from all sides. On most days, I handle it all pretty well.Īnd then on others I feel myself buckling under the immense weight of self-induced guilt.
A bit crazy and hectic, with so many things vying for your attention.
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