Have you ever considered that when you condemn yourself for something, you are saying that the blood of Jesus wasn’t enough? And when you take on and wear shame, you are saying Jesus’ sacrifice didn’t cover this particular thing for which you feel shame? Unfortunately, several religious communities have preached with great conviction that we must earn the love of God by good works and avoiding the bad stuff. But I don’t believe that is Scriptural or true.

The love of God was demonstrated when He sent Jesus to die for us, even while we hated Him, didn’t know Him, and didn’t care to. The one sacrifice Jesus made took on all the bad stuff—there is nothing that is too much or wasn’t covered at that point—past, present and future. If there was, Jesus would have to die over and over again to cover it.

When we agree with condemnation, we are negating Jesus’ death and resurrection. We are saying it is not enough, and I must really beat up on myself before I can be stamped “approved” by God. I must wallow in self-pity, in condemnation and in shame in order to earn God’s love. Yuck.

The normal Christian life, then, is living FROM the love of God rather than FOR it. He has already reached out in love, covering everything that kept us from Him. We only must acknowledge our need, and relinquish the shame and our past to Him. He brings resurrection life out of any story, even yours. The good works that come are a result of His Life within, not a product of trying really hard to be good.

Sometimes, we can get into a self-righteous mindset where we did all the right things, and should have earned no suffering and no pain by now because of good behavior. Except that’s not what is promised in Scripture. We can, however, experience peace in any circumstance, a Shepherd walking with us through every valley of the shadow of death, strength in our plentiful weaknesses, and freedom in the middle of a prison. Our expectations sometimes need a bit of shifting to bring us to a place of rising above whatever pain we find ourselves in, whether we have chosen it or not, and refocusing on the truth. We are not asking for enough when we ask for a comfortable life. God instead brings Himself—the God of all comfort—to walk with us so that the circumstances don’t have to be comfortable to experience comfort.

Shame, condemnation, self-pity and self-righteousness don’t suit us. They aren’t productive, and are quite destructive when we let them roam freely in our minds. Instead, let’s bring them to Jesus, acknowledging that His blood covers all of it, and His Life provides all we need for today to leave behind the past and experience peace in the present and future.

As for us, we have all of these great witnesses who encircle us like clouds. So we must let go of every wound that has pierced us and the sin we so easily fall into. Then we will be able to run life’s marathon race with passion and determination, for the path has been already marked out before us. We look away from the natural realm and we focus our attention and expectation onto Jesus who birthed faith within us and who leads us forward into faith’s perfection. Hebrews 12:1-2