Today's Daily Lesson is from 1 John 3 verses 19 and 20:
"19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything."
I have known many people whose inner selves are so seized by the guilt of things they have done and the shame of who they are for having done them that they end up living in a state of spiritual and emotional paralysis. These people often resort to self medication through drugs and alcohol as a way of temporary escape from their feelings. Some are so burdened by the power of self-condemnation that they choose to take their own lives. In every case, these powers of guilt, shame, and self-condemnation imprison a person in the past and rob him or her of the future.
Today's Scripture speaks of that inner place of shame - or what it calls the heart of condemnation. John the Beloved writes to those struggling with condemnation and suggests that the way to escape the heart's condemnation is not to deny it, but rather to accept it. It is true that we are all guilty, and because of our guilt there is shame in all of us. John the Beloved acknowledges that these things are in all of our hearts; but then he speaks to us of a deeper heart - the heart of God's grace. John the Beloved God's heart of grace is deeper and truer or more ultimate than our heart of condemnation. This is what it means to be Beloved - loved and accepted in God's grace in our deepest self.
One of my favorite clergy persons of all time is John Newton, who wrote the hymn "Amazing Grace". Newton was a British slave-ship captain in the 1700s before having a conversion experience and later becoming and Anglican priest. He later became a strong voice in British abolitionist movement.
Newton's ministry was marked by a deeply pastoral care for the souls of his parishioners and friends, who themselves struggled with guilt and shame. He could speak to them as John the Beloved spoke - as a wise friend deeply in touch with the power of God's redeeming love.
Not long ago I ran across a letter from Newton to a person struggling with self-condemnation. Newton wrote from his own experience, no doubt remembering the horrors he had inflicted on Africans aboard ship, but also remembering God's redeeming love. Here are his words:
"I was ashamed when I began to seek him; I am more ashamed now; and I expect to be most ashamed when he shall appear to destroy my last enemy [death]. But, oh! I may rejoice in him, to think that He will not be ashamed of me."
Our hearts may be guilty and ashamed, but in God there is a deeper heart of eternal, and redeeming love. It is a heart that knows all, accepts all, embraces all. It is the heart of God's eternal grace. And as Newton said, it is Amazing Grace indeed - though we may be guilty and ashamed of ourselves; God is not ashamed of us.
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