"Bookends of the Christian Life" - Part 3

I thought about not writing this post since it has been a few weeks since I last mentioned this book. But I said I would do it, so here it is! 

There is not much more I wanted to say about the book itself. What I really want to tell you is how this book has influenced me and has become one of my favorites. 

My biggest struggle is with persistent guilt over my sin. I know God has forgiven me in Christ, but every time commit the same sin over and over, I find my faith weakening. 

Crazy thoughts run through my head. 

“Why can’t I overcome this sin?!?!” 

“Maybe I am not really saved?” 

“I guess I just need to try harder.”

“God is not going to bless me.”

What ends up happening is that instead of running back to Christ and trusting in Him, I feel too guilty and ashamed and afraid. I sink deeper in my sin of unfaithfulness. Now whatever sin I committed to bring on my guilt is not even my problem anymore. Now my problem is that I am no longer walking in faith. 

I think this is where many of us live. We have followed Christ in faith, asking Him to forgive our sins and repenting of them. We now understand that we are to live for Him and allow God to sanctify us, conforming us to the image of his Son. We know that involves the casting aside of sin and growing the fruit of the Spirit. 

But, what do we do when there is a sin that we try to cast aside only to find that it seems to be bungeed to us and snaps right back into our lives? It can lead to many sleepless nights of agonizing over that sin. Dealing with that persistent sin can become an idol in itself. We exalt our worry over it above our love for God. 

Well, Bookends has really illuminated the truth from God’s word on this issue and set me straight. 

My problem is that I rely too heavily on my conscience instead of the Gospel. That sounds kind of odd at first until I let the Bible direct my thoughts on this… 

2 Corinthians 7:9

As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.

Godly grief (not just a guilty conscience) leads us to repentance! If I am experiencing persistent guilt without repentance then my conscience has overridden the gospel.

Bridges puts it this way:

As we’ve noted earlier, all believers often commit sin. Therefore we regularly hear the voice of our conscience. But , take note: The message of the cross is absent from the signals sent by our guilty conscience; it knows only the law. So all we hear from it is bad news, not good news.

He says elsewhere

Whereas guilt is a curse, a healthy remembrance of our sin is a blessing. Guilt ignores the cross but remembering our sin should drive us to the cross.

It is so easy to listen exclusively to our conscience. To then feel so guilty. The thing of it is though… as a Christian you are no longer counted guilty!!! You have been forgiven ALL your sin. You are accepted by God. O how often we forget the fullness of God’s mercy toward us in Christ! 

There were two more things that I found immensely helpful in this book. Both are quotes from Thomas Wilcox, a Puritan, who wrote Honey out of the Rock. 

When our conscience relentlessly condemns us, remember that Christ will have the last word. He is the judge of the living and the dead and only he can pronounce the final sentence. Christ is the judge--not us or our conscience. So never for a moment dare to take the judge’s place by proclaiming irreparable guilt when he proclaims hope, grace and pardon. If we think our sin is too great to be pardoned, remember that Christ does not agree.

Wow! He is basically saying that when I continue in guilt over my forgiven sin, that I am usurping Christ’s role as Judge. I am taking over as “God” in my life. That is serious stuff. What Christ has declared forgiven, let no man cast judgement upon.

Here is the last quote that brought all of this to a razor-sharp point. It is itself simple, concise and devastating to me:

Self-contempt is a subtle form of self-centeredness.

Double wow! The whole time I wallowed in my guilt I was truly wallowing in self-contempt. And while I wallowed, I thought I was being so holy by feeling the full weight of my sin in light of his holiness. In reality I was being so self-centered and denying Christ…

Sin is so deceptive. Forget about Satan trying to deceive me, I do a great job on myself! 

So, here is what I learned in a nutshell… God has COMPLETELY forgiven ALL my sin. When I sin, or even when I am reminded of my sin, my guilt should IMMEDIATELY drive me back to the gospel where God will remind me: “You are already forgiven. Now trust in me again by walking in the Spirit.” 

Then I should FEEL forgiven… IMMEDIATELY! No persistent guilt because Christ has cleansed me, and God has declared me righteous based on Christ’s work on the cross. 

Wow this is liberating. 

I hope this has been helpful for you as well. I HIGHLY recommend this book to any and all. It is so clear and concise in guiding us in how to live our lives in Christ.