Don’t Receive Condemnation

“Compassion will cure more sins than condemnation.”

—HENRY WARD BEECHER

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

Condemnation is a feeling of guilt and shame that presses you down. That is why people often refer to being “under” condemnation. For example, one might say, “Jane got her dates mixed up and failed to show up for the field trip at school; now she is under condemnation. She has felt guilty and ashamed ever since it happened.”

Jesus comes to lift us up, not press us down. It is the devil who wants to press us down and keep us there. He brings condemnation, but Jesus offers forgiveness and restoration. The devil offers complexity and confusion; Jesus offers simplicity in its purest form. Every time we sin, the Holy Spirit convicts us but the devil tries to denounce and condemn us. We need to know the difference. Conviction is for the purpose of leading us to admit our sin and repent. Condemnation only makes us feel guilty and actually weakens us and keeps us in the cycle of sin.

We must decide not to accept condemnation. You would not take arsenic if someone offered it to you, so why take condemnation when the Bible plainly teaches that we have been set free from it through Jesus Christ? He paid the price for our sins by dying on the cross and rising from the dead. If we believe in Him and look to Him as our Savior, we are free from the power of sin (see Romans 6:7–8), which I believe is condemnation.

Since we do sin and make mistakes, there is no hope of life being simple if our destiny is to succumb to condemnation, pressure, and guilt each time we fail. Thank God He has set us free through Jesus Christ and offers us a simple life filled with peace and joy. It is already available; all you need to do is believe and receive!