Groundhog Day

Yesterday was one of those days like the movie Groundhog Day… you know where Bill Murray has to keep doing the same day over and over until he gets it right. Sigh, that seems to be my yesterday in fact my several days. I am a firm believer that “when you know to do better than better is expected of you.” I don’t know about you but lately I just find it so easy to fall into the same mistakes, doing the same wrong pattern, and feeling doomed to continue to repeat it until I finally get it right.

I woke up this morning feeling unworthy to go do the job I was about to go do… which is lead the people it’s what pastors do. All I could see was my short-comings this week. I got caught up in guilt. I want to distinguish between guilt and repentance (this became a topic today among some people). Repentance leads you to the Lord, repentance leads you to a corrective state, repentance is about over-coming and changing, repentance is about learning to do better, it leads to redemption. God corrects those He loves. The books of Hebrew and Proverbs tells us that the Lord disciplines and corrects those He loves. Guilt imprisons us, it binds us, chains us to the very thing we’ve already repented about and been given forgiveness over.

I don’t believe God brings shame to those that seek Him, shame is a disgrace… God receives us as we are through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ through GRACE! I believe God desires to bring transformation to our life but not shame and guilt. Shame and guilt are binding and destructive; God is constructive, He builds on what is already there. Guilt and shame twist the truth including God’s correction. They leave God’s love out of correction. 1 John 4:8 tells us  that God is love so if you take love out of the correction we have a problem.

Today I went to church as I usually do and I found redemption. You are probably thinking aren’t you a pastor? Yes, I am…Even leadership needs redemption least I quote all the failing leaders in the bible to you… There are just days that I need God to save me from me, put me back on the right path, and renew my heart and vision for Him. I need those things without a lecture about shame or guilt or someone throwing a bible at me (least I throw it right back at them and those books have sharp corners).

This blog is not about a perfect Christian or the niceties of such a thing… it is about being in the trenches with the Word of God, people, life, and my own struggles. True there are victories, many victories but we usually identify with one another’s struggles, we tend to compare victories and then feel bad or jealous when our victory doesn’t look like theirs. It’s my goal this week to get real with the book of James… taming the tongue. Maybe everything that comes out of your mouth is as sweet as a honeydew (or big slice of cake) … I don’t know your struggles but I hope you find peace this week and know that you don’t have to be a prisoner to guilt or shame. We struggle, we fail, we make mistakes, dust off, get back up and start again. If at first you don’t succeed…stop going alone and take the Lord with you (it really helps). 😊 Good Afternoon Ladies…