January 12: No Condemnation

There’s a memory that keeps coming back. Something you said, or did, or failed to do. It makes your face hot every time.

Paul spent the whole of chapter seven describing his struggle: wanting to do right and doing wrong anyway. Then chapter eight opens with this sentence. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Not less condemnation. None.

Shame and guilt are different things. Guilt says, “I did something wrong.” That can be healthy. It points toward making things right. Shame says, “I am something wrong.” It doesn’t point anywhere except down. And for a drinker, down usually means another drink.

Step One asks you to be honest about drinking and about the damage. But it doesn’t ask you to hate yourself. Admitting powerlessness is actually the opposite of shame. Shame says you should have been strong enough. Step One says you were facing something stronger than you, and you needed help. That’s not an excuse. It’s the truth that makes help possible.

The voice of condemnation can sound religious. It may quote rules at you. It may tell you God is done with you. That voice is not God’s. God’s voice, in Christ, says you are not condemned. You are loved, and you are called to walk a new way. Conviction from God always has a door in it. Condemnation is a room with no door.

You will have work to do later in the steps about the people you’ve hurt. That’s real and it’s coming. But you don’t have to carry all of it today, and you don’t have to carry it as a sentence passed on your soul. You can carry it as someone already forgiven, learning to live forgiven.

When the memory comes back today, name it. Then say this verse back to it. Out loud if you can. Shame hates being said out loud. It loses power in the light.

One thing today

Write Romans 8:1 on a card or in your phone. When the shame memory comes, read it, then tell one safe person you’re struggling with shame today.

A prayer

Jesus, I’m carrying things I can’t forgive myself for. Thank You that You don’t condemn me. Help me tell the truth about what I did without believing the lie about who I am.

If shame is loud right now, read this page on shame after drinking. Back to Step One.

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