Daily Gospel Devotional 2013: Only two ways to turn

Matthew 27:3-5…

I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.  Judas had apparently followed the crowd to the scene of Jesus’ trial. Having seen what has happened, Judas began to feel the crushing weight of his own guilt. He had betrayed the most innocent man that ever lived.

He is now faced with a choice. As the person responsible for getting Jesus arrested, he knew he must declare Jesus’ innocence. He needed to try and make things right. But he only went half way. He didn’t seek forgiveness from Jesus; he only tried to give back the spoil of his sin. The attitude of the chief priest and elders shows their wickedness, but it also illustrates the point that sometimes we cannot undue what we have done.

This is why we need forgiveness. This is why Jesus came to us, not only to pay for our actual guilt, but also to cleanse us from our emotional guilt. There are only two ways to turn. We can turn inward, and allow the guilt to continue to pile on ourselves, or we can turn outward, and find freedom in Christ. Many feel sorrow over their sins, but they decide to turn over a new leaf without turning their lives over to Christ. Judas is the embodiment of this difference between worldly sorrow and godly sorrow (2 Corinthians 7:10).

You can renounce your past all you want; you can proclaim your devotion to Christian principles without fail. But that doesn’t mean you’re walking the walk. That walk doesn’t mean turning in your thirty pieces of dirty money in remorse, it means turning your life over to Christ in true repentance. Instead of letting guilt be the thing that hangs you, let it be the bridge to God’s grace. Admit your wrongs to Jesus, trust Him, and feel His forgiveness (1 John 1:5-10).

Some Christians are not enjoying their forgiveness, because they say that they can’t “forgive themselves”. They have become their own idol and the lord of their life. In saying Jesus has forgiven them but they can’t forgive themselves, they are in effect saying they are a god above Jesus. Although the lesser God, Jesus, is forgiving, the highest god, themselves, is not.

Receive God’s forgiveness. Find your true freedom. You don’t have to be like Judas.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©