No one would argue against the debilitating effects of guilt and shame’s reality, yet we seldom see the lengths God goes to in order to separate people from them.
Under the levitical priesthood, the High Priest went into the Holy of Holies once a year to offer sacrifices for the sins of the people. Certainly it was the place for God’s forgiveness and His mercy to be poured out but it also created an event and a moment for the people to be aware of this transaction themselves. It was not done in secret.
It was enough-hopefully- for each of them to say ‘if God has covered over my sins then I can forgive myself.’ Freedom from both guilt and shame is essential for us all to be able to walk healthily into our future. In a real way -God’s forgiveness is not enough- it should be. But for some of us, it might not be. We must forgive ourselves.
We all prove capable of tethering ourselves to that one thing we can’t quite forget. The one thing we knew better than to do, and did anyway. Or, the one thing we knew to do, and didn’t.
Scripture goes on to say that the offerings of bulls and goats could not cleanse our consciouses permanently. It goes further saying the blood of Christ, who once and for all, was offered through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself to God and purified our consciouses to serve the living God.
Let us always be mindful that the greatest trust we can ever extend to God is in believing He has completely answered the sin problem in our lives. Let us remain mindful and let us determine to walk forward completely free of guilt and shame, having perfectly forgiven ourselves.