Guilt by Susan L.

  It's a five letter four letter word, guilt is. It's the name of a thief. It's the name of a liar. It's the name of doubt and shame. It's a sentence ushered in with an imaginary gavel slamming down. There's no room for give and take, for parole. There's no room for redemption. There's no room for growth when that emotion fills your mind and soul. Yup, I'm an expert but I also understand the importance of letting go, in laying such foul things at the foot of the Cross. Guilt is obliterated with one word: forgiveness.
  Why is guilt so much a part of our lives? In a way that's a rather naïve question. I know it's a weapon of the devil as well as its evil twin, shame. It was released into this world when Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge and hid from the Lord. They knew they were naked. There's been a raging debate ever since about who should be blamed. Blame, the flip side to shame.
  I know I've talked about this with others but am not sure it's ever been part of a blog. There's a part of the Adam and Eve story that gets glossed over: God clothed them in tunics of skin. He must have done that with great sorrow. Still, His grace covered their nakedness, their shame and taught them how to clothe themselves. Then He sent them out of the Garden of Eden so they would not eat of the Tree of Life. He spared us having to live forever with the knowledge of good and evil.
  I shudder at the thought of an eternal life full of the human angst and struggles that fill my days. This big blue ball of a planet would have become overcrowded millennia ago. There would be wars over assets like drinking water. The land would be sterile by now because of the demands of feeding the multitudes. Famine, disease, but no death. Wow, that's grim.
  Thank You, Lord for Your grace and mercy. Thank You for the work Jesus did on the Cross so that we will be saved. Thank You for the gifts of redemption, forgiveness, and peace. Thank You, Lord that I have an eternal life that will be there for me when You call me home. Thank You that it will be lived in Your presence where guilt, shame, and blame have no place. Thank You Lord that my time on this earth is just long enough for You to do the work in my heart. Let me live as testimony to others of Your wondrous, all encompassing, life giving love. Thank You...Thank You... Thank You.
  "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only." Mt 24:35-36