Change is also known as repentance. We turn away from our old self and turn to our creator. How do we deal with death, betrayal, injustice, suffering, and other causes of sorrow? this post will encourage us in trading Our sorrows and shame For peace And joy
The addicted usually turn to our pattern of escape. Whether it’s something we drink, eat, swallow, smoke, or a behavior we like to get lost in (like Internet gaming, gambling, or pornography), we use it as the place we take our pain.
For a little while, we dodge the hurt. When the sadness returns, we repeat our behavior and the cycle continues. Unfortunately, our escape routes lead us back to where we began facing the pain. When we’ve turned to our addiction, we have usually picked up shame to accompany our sorrow.
It may simply be feeling ashamed because we turned to the one place we were trying not to go anymore or it could be more publicly shameful, like an arrest or getting fired from a job. Then we use again because we’re ashamed. Our addiction is fed and we remain in the unhealthy cycle.
What if we considered a new solution? An abode to unburden our sorrow and shame where it won’t be passed back to us, that’s what Jesus offers us. In the scripture, He says, “Come to me all ye who are weak and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
He’s willing to make a trade. He says to bring Him our troubles and He’ll exchange them with peace. Sounds so simple. Why don’t we do that? Well, somewhere along the way we decided (either consciously or subconsciously) that God’s solution wasn’t enough for us.
We chose to supplement God’s solution with a little bit of our own solution. We might say a prayer and when we don’t feel any better, we return to our familiar way of handling these emotions. Turns out, we simply lack the faith that brings about change. How do we get that kind of faith?
Trading Our Sorrows and Shame For Peace And Joy
The scriptures tell us to confess our sins and repent.
He that declares that he is in the light, and detests his brother, is in darkness even now. 1 John 1:9 Repent therefore and be transformed, that your iniquities may be washed out, when the times of revitalizing shall emerge from the presence of the lord. Acts 3:19
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This means we tell God straight up that we have turned to something other than Him to seek relief; that we have sinned by not seeking Him first. We tell Him we’ve not put our trust in Him alone and we ask Him to forgive us. That’s confession.
When our hearts are absolutely in unison with our mouths, observe what God offered us compassion, purity, iniquities wiped away, a spotless slate on which to develop our faith. Jesus loves us so much that he physically suffered and died for our sins. He wanted us to be able to have God’s peace.
He wants us to have this peace so much that he accepted all the punishment for all the wrongdoing we’ve ever done, including all the times we run to our addiction instead of God to handle life.
He was murdered and mocked for us. A thankful heart and a sincere heart develop when we realize what our actions say to the Lord when we choose to take our worries down our escape hatch of addiction.
For example, picture yourself standing with the crowd, looking up at Jesus hanging on the cross in agony. Would you consider looking at Him and saying, “Sorry Jesus, that’s not going to be enough for me.
I won’t be able to trust you with everything in my life. I’m going to handle my problems by turning to. That’s basically what we tell Him when we choose to turn to our addiction instead of Him.
He gave his life for us. He rose up from the grave three days later and proved the power of Almighty God is greater than any power on this earth. When we realize what an insult we’ve hurled at God by saying He’s not enough, our hearts should break.
With a humbled and broken heart, we will confess and the result will be feelings that match our words of repentance. Our hearts will be ready to receive the kind of faith that brings about change.
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