April 23, 2018

1 John 3:20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

There is a difference between having guilt feelings and actually being guilty. Some people spend a lot of money with therapists learning this. We have so many voices inside us saying so many things that it can be very difficult knowing which voice is truly ours or, even more importantly, God’s. So much of life is just learning to be honest with ourselves and then doing so before God. Of course, there are plenty of times that we are really guilty of being less than we know we ought to be and there are so many ways we can display this. But there are also plenty of ways that we can pour guilt upon ourselves that have nothing to do with God but the voice of a parent or a teacher or the media or some other in our lives that we allow to be significant. Even when the voice is truly and completely our own and even when we are truly and completely guilty, God knows it too and is not shocked or distressed but has already showed us forgiveness and mercy in Jesus. Our hearts may say all sorts of bad things about us, and some of them may be true, but God is greater than our hearts or our sin or our psyches. This week, which voices will you listen to? How will you trust that God is greater than our hearts?