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January 5, 2019
“Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence in God.” (1 Jn 3:21)
Several years back, I was talking with a woman who expressed feelings of guilt about a wrong she had done many years ago. During our conversation, I asked if she believed that God had forgiven her, and she replied, “yes.” Yet, knowing this did not take away her guilt. Why? I asked if she had forgiven herself, and she replied, “no.” There was the answer. How could she have confidence in God’s forgiveness when her own heart was condemning her? As a result, she deprived herself of God’s deep peace.
I believe she somehow missed one of the deeper messages of Christmas - that the Incarnate Word, born into this world so very long ago, never left it. Unfathomable love compelled God to stay and abide in us. God chose to transform us from within, slowly showing us the many spiritual gifts that came into the world that Christmas Day. One, being the healthy self-love that allows us to model God and forgive ourselves. Put in another way: With God’s love dwelling within, ministering within, and forgiving within, how can we counter such mercy with denial of self-forgiveness? God has set us free from such pain.
If our hearts do condemn us, what does it say about where we are on our spiritual journey? Are there gifts we have not yet fully unwrapped? Picture a child on Christmas morning, ripping the wrapping paper from a box, so full of joy, wonder, and anticipation. Wouldn’t it be something if we approached God’s unending gifts in the same way? What confidence we will have in God!