Devotionals by Dr. M. Craig Barnes
We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand.
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God loves for us to stand tall. It grieves him to see us trudging through life with stooped shoulders, because we were created to stand upright as human beings who are at peace with life. But every day we are reminded how hard this is. We may begin the new day standing tall, but most of us just crawl into bed at night.
The reason we don't stand tall is we pick up the wrong burden in life. Daily we carry around burdens from work, home, friends, finances, children, and our many responsibilities. But we were created to handle that load. The burden that's too heavy for us is the guilt we feel from not fulfilling these commitments as well as we should have.
All our guilt over failing in life's responsibilities is actually guilt at failing God, who gave us our mission in life. Until we believe God has forgiven us, we will continue in futility to search for our own atonement by carrying more burdens. That only leads to more failure, and more guilt.
When Jesus died on the cross, his arms were stretched out wide. That's because the Son of God was dying to carry our guilt. It doesn't matter what you have done, or not done, there is always room in the wide open arms of the Son of God for more of your guilt. Unless you place the heavy burden of your guilt in those arms, you'll never stand tall again.
-- Craig Barnes