Set Me Free: Devotions From Time of Grace MinistryChikamu

SET ME FREE FROM SELF-HATRED: GUILT

Guilt is a tremendous short-term motivator, isn't it? You can get your husband and children moving through nagging and guilt trips. You can even rouse yourself to quite a bit of energy at first through shame and self-scolding.

But it wears off, leaving you worse off. Consistently using guilt as a motivator eventually leaves you (and your spouse and children) with a strongly negative self-image: "I never do anything right." Sadly, negative motivation gets addictive, and we instinctively reach for the stick instead of the carrot.

You can't stop the negativity toward other people until you first stop it in your own heart. The primary message of the Bible is that God unconditionally and freely decided to love you. He pre-forgave you of all your sins, hoping to inspire you in that way to embrace his love and choose to change your sinful life. "Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool" (Isaiah 1:18).

You don't have to set yourself free from guilt. Jesus already did it for you. You are now free to stop hating yourself and free to speak patiently and kindly to the people around you.