All Who Are Weary: A 5-Day Study to Find Rest for Your SoulSample

I’m a failure. My family is better off without me. I’m a terrible friend. I can’t believe I messed up like that again.

Have you ever said any of those phrases? Sometimes, condemnation can hound us like a rabid dog. Yet ignoring those accusations can feel impossible, because there can be pieces of truth mixed in with the lies. We have messed up. We have failed. We’re not always a good friend. Sin comes easily, and often we do need to confess.

Other times, we listen to the condemning words of others, our culture, our own expectations, and we let those words take root in our souls even though they’re not even remotely true. Or an unavoidable accident happens, and the consequences eat away at us. Or maybe hard circumstances leave us in an endless cycle of “I should haves.” I should have said something differently. I should have prepared better. I should have seen that coming.

The devil has a thousand tricks up his sleeve, ways he reminds us that we deserve darkness instead of light—and he’s right in some ways, isn’t he? He can name real sins and point out how we are undeserving of the life God offers. So, lies and the truth get muddled together, twisted and warped, and we struggle to keep it all straight. We see only our faults, and so we repeat words of condemnation and phrases of judgment like a broken record, wincing as the scratches rhythmically remind us of our own brokenness.

We end up being so sure of our failures, yet so unsure God’s grace is enough to cover them.

But 1 John 1:9 says that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and will forgive. Paul tells us in Colossians 2 that God made us alive by canceling our record of debt. And Revelation 12 shows how the accuser has been conquered by the blood of Jesus.

Maybe words of condemnation nag at you. Maybe you carry a constant feeling of guilt. But we do not have to bear the shame of our sin anymore. It’s been nailed to the cross, and Satan himself has been defeated. Christ has won! And so we can carry the yoke of grace instead of condemnation, life instead of death, glory instead of shame.

We can let go of the burden of condemnation because our failure can never outweigh the grace of God.