Seeing The KingdomSample

Peace, Joy, and Rest Psychologists tell us that most people carry around something of a burden of guilt and shame. These are not the same. Guilt can make a person restive, anxious, and even suspicious of others. Nevertheless, it can be easy enough to rationalize away the guilt we may feel because of something done – or left undone – toward our fellow human beings. We may say that they somehow deserved it or that their suffering is not our problem. Or we can try to do something to assuage our guilt and make things right again. Shame, however, is quite different. Since we can never, try though we may, entirely escape the wrong things we’ve done or the good things we should have done, they linger in our memories and prick our hearts as often as we think about them. As these continue to accumulate, guilt gives way to shame, a condition that asks, “What’s the matter with you? What if the people who know you find out what you’re really like?” Shame can be very difficult to deal with, especially since, for those who are still in their sins, they continue to add to its burden day by day. But when the Gospel of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ engages the soul and a person is transferred into the Kingdom of God’s dear Son, an awakening occurs which floods the life with a sense of profound wellbeing. When people come to know in their hearts and minds that they have been forgiven, redeemed, adopted into God’s family, and given a new beginning in Jesus Christ, their outlook brightens, hope rekindles, and they embark on a determined course to transform their lives. As the do, this sense of being forgiven and renewed becomes visible, not just as a kind of early euphoria, but, increasingly, as a way of life. Where the Kingdom of God has come to a human being, guilt and shame have been cancelled, and the light of grace and truth floods the channels of the soul. When you see that peace and joy, consistently experienced, you’ll know you’re in the presence of the Kingdom of God. Next steps: How can you begin to know more of that peace and joy in your own life?