The Best Gift

You know that feeling you get when you know you've done something wrong?
Whether it be something you said, something you thought, or something you did, there's this nasty feeling of guilt and regret that hovers over you.
You start to feel like everyone can see it (even though there's usually no possible way anyone could know) and the thought of that fills you with even more regret.



I don't know about you all, but I tend to beat myself up for not being perfect.
When I make a mistake, I feel absolutely terrible.
I walk around with these chains of regret, guilt, and shame, and though it's really not that big of a deal a majority of the time, it feels like the end of the world to me.



If you can relate to that at all, this blog post is for you.



I know and have heard of a lot of people who have been wrestling with deep regret lately.
I've also experienced that these past few weeks as I've been asking God to open my eyes to my own sin.
I was praying about my own mistakes the other day, to the point of tears, when I felt a vision placed in my mind.



I was standing before Jesus, Who was sitting on His throne.
He had this HUGE list of everything I have ever done wrong, and when I saw Him looking at it, I broke down crying.
He looked up at me, eyes full of love, and then did the unthinkable:



He ripped up the list.



The pieces burned away, and He stood up and held His arms open wide for me.
"It is finished." He said.
That vision, though just a few minutes of my mind imagining, left me amazed.
It blows my mind to think about... But even those tight chains are broken away at the mention of His name.
Jesus was sent to this earth to die for us so that it could be finished; so that we wouldn't have to live in guilt.



In 'The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe' there's a scene where Edmund (who was basically a betrayer) meets Aslan (who represents Jesus), and they have a discussion.
It is never revealed what was said, but at the end of the conversation Aslan takes Edmund back to the other people he had betrayed, and says to them, "there is no need to speak to him about what is past."



That is probably my favorite line in the entire thing.
We are fully known by God.
He knows every mistake we have ever made and ever will make; and yet... He sent His only Son to die so that there would be no need to speak about what is past.



It is finished.
It is in the past.
Our mistakes are forgiven because of that amazing act of love.



And that's something I know we've all heard over and over again...
But y'all, that thought is beginning to blow my mind.



Remember that this Christmas season.
That baby was sent so that you wouldn't have to be trapped by the chains of your past.
Don't throw that gift away.