If you have ever spent days, months, or even years repenting for the same sin, I want to offer you a word of encouragement. You don’t have to keep flailing yourself.

If you have already repented before the Lord in prayer about something wrong that you did or didn’t do or even some wrong thought that you had, you are not obligated to walk around long-faced, cry so hard your eyes get puffy, or sit around on some solitary ash heap to prove a point or get God to believe you are truly sorry.

You have already been forgiven! And as far as God is concerned, your sins are as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). In fact, He doesn’t remember them (Isaiah 43:25, Hebrews 8:12).

So, who does?

Well… we do when we find ourselves in similar situations as the original situation in which we sinned. And, of course, we have the Accuser – the devil himself – who wants to intimidate us and make us feel ashamed all over again.

But when those guilty or “I am such a terrible person” feelings threaten to overwhelm you again, you can stand on one of my favorite verses from the book of Romans.

It says, “THEREFORE, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit” (Romans 8:1, Amplified).

So don’t give in to feeling miserable and looking bedraggled.  Next time you are assaulted by those accusations, rest in the truth: You are forgiven, loved, and restored to a proper place with the Lord.

– Laura J. Bagby