No Condemnation

I have an inner critic. It hisses in my ear when I’m doing well, mocks my efforts and tells me I may as well give up now and become a hermit who lives in the woods, collecting berries and communing with squirrels. It gives me an even worse time when I’m doing poorly, playing the old record about how I’m useless and unloveable and no one will ever want me. Its broken record of condemnation makes the hermit fantasy look mighty attractive.

You might be familiar with the voice of the inner critic. The effects of this voice can be demoralising, debilitating and depressing. (How do you like my alliteration? Always use three things that start with the same letter, they told me.) And once it starts singing the old song of condemnation, it can be hard to shut down.

Perfectionism has had me living under the black cloud of condemnation my whole life. Perfectionism is a particularly nasty strain of inner critic that tells me scathing things like ‘You could have done that better’ or ‘You should have done that faster,’ even when I have just achieved something stupendous. It’s a dart to the heart. The Perfectionist is never satisfied.

That’s why, for recovering perfectionists like me, Easter brings us particularly good tidings. When he died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead, Jesus absorbed all our condemnation, everything we missed or forgot or could have done better or faster or sooner. He gave us complete pardon.

It says in Romans 8:1-2 Jesus has freed us from the burden of the inner critic and the tyranny of the Perfectionist (okay, I’m paraphrasing, but check out the verse):

‘Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit, who gives life, has set you free from the law of sin and death.’ (NIV)

I like the way the Message bible puts it too:

‘With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.’

Regardless of our walk of life, social status, material success (or lack thereof), gender, mental state, skin colour, hairstyle, personality or spiritual temperature, there is no condemnation for those who belong to Jesus. He has made us truly free.

There is no condemnation for those who are sitting pretty.

There is no condemnation for those who are struggling.

There is no condemnation for the lost or the broken.

There is no condemnation for any of God’s children.

Hear that new record playing? That’s the song of freedom.

Do you live with condemnation? How do the voices of the inner critic or the perfectionist affect you? How does Jesus’ sacrifice change that? Share your story. Let’s have a countercultural conversation.