3 Things About Condemnation We Need To Remember

Who is Doing the Accusing?

Tragically, feelings of condemnation, shame, and guilt are so common to humanity

And it isn’t just feelings of condemnation as an emotion. Condemnation creeps into our thoughts, and in our bodies.

Condemnation can make us:

• hate ourselves
• run from relationships
• lash out at others
• and hide in fear

Condemnation strips away our self-worth and our ability or desire to love others.

If we are honest, we are all crippled by condemnation.

I AM SO STUPID

I remember feeling devastated, ashamed and basically unlovable after a big financial mistake. “How could I have been so irresponsible? I am so stupid! My wife is going to hate me.” The feeling clung to me like a sweaty shirt. Dark thoughts creeped up in every moment of silence.

I didn’t need any help. I condemned myself.

DONE TO US

But sometimes it is not what we have done. Sometimes condemnation comes because of what has been done to us.

• We were lied to. But we feel it was our fault.
• We were abused. But we feel ashamed to tell anyone.
• We were teased or bullied. But we feel rejected and excluded.

Condemnation comes from the inside and the outside, a pernicious villain.

What can we do about condemnation?

Here are three things to remember when we are trapped by condemnation.

1) The Accuser is accusing you.

Do you hear that little voice within us? We all have it.

The voice that is all too ready to tell us when we’ve blown it. It whispers to us when we are falling asleep. It speaks to us as we are driving to work. I condemns us as we enter the office or when we are taking a test at school.

• “You shouldn’t be here.”
• “You’re such a fraud.”
• “Nobody likes you.”
• “If people only knew what you’ve done.”
• “People won’t love you if…”

Where does that voice come from? And why is it so strong in us?

We could say it is just the internalized voices that we’ve heard throughout our lives. And I would agree — up to a point.

But Christianity has always said there is a more sinister force at work, whispering words of condemnation over us.

This is Satan — the Accuser (see Zech 3:1 & Rev. 12:10), who roams around looking for people to devour (1 Peter 5:8).

And how does Satan devour us? Not literally, of course.

But spiritually and emotionally, by making us feel condemned for everything little thing, ALL THE TIME.

So remember, when you are feeling condemned, you are being attacked by the Accuser.

2) God is not pointing the finger

This is probably the hardest one think about. We usually think that God is pointing the finger at us, condemning us before his holy law and consigning us to hell because of every infraction.

But that is not case.

Certainly God is holy. But God is also loving. More than anything, God wants to be with us, and God is overcoming every obstacle between us and God (check out this other view of the Bridge Illustration to explain salvation).

It is the Accuser who takes advantage of God’s holiness and points out how far we have failed, and points to God and demands that God punish us.

And it is us who choose life without God, turning our backs on the opportunity to truly feel welcomed, accepted, free, and alive.

The voice of condemnation is our own, and the voice of Satan.

The voice of God speaks love over us, if we would only believe (and there is something about faith we usually forget).

So remember, when you are feeling condemned, that God is not the one speaking against you.

3) God is with us

Instead of going out of his way to condemn us, God has come to be with us so that we might live free of condemnation.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:17)

And,

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. (Rom. 8:1–2)

Even Jesus himself stood (falsely) accused. As God who has become human, Jesus knows everything we have been through.

And this should give us comfort: God is with us and is leading us out of condemnation and into life and acceptance.

So remember and BELIEVE, when you are feeling condemned, that God is with you no matter what you’ve done or has been done to you.

P. S. For more about how we misunderstand God’s love as condemnation, see this short (free) chapter from I Know God Loves Me, But Does God Even Like Me? It’s from my current writing project.