Disconnected from God

The thing that defines you doesn't need to be what you did or didn't do in the past. It can be what's been done for you through Jesus’s death and resurrection. Jesus’s victory over death means that we no longer have to fear our sins, and our sins cannot define us or our future. Our sins no longer have to be something we hide in the shadows. Even in Genesis 3, the first time sin comes on the scene, what do Adam and Eve do? They hide from God when he calls for them because they're ashamed and guilty of the sin that they had committed. Our first response is to hide and oftentimes we also try to avoid any situations that might expose the reality of our sin. We don't want to think about the stains. We don't want to stop, internally reflect, and ask ourselves difficult questions, so we tend to run away from our mistakes.

The Friday before Easter is a day we call “Good Friday”. But that first Friday, when Jesus died, it wasn't good at all for his followers. It was a day of shame. It was the day of guilt. It was a day where the ugliness of sin was shown and couldn't be denied. It was a day of reckoning. Think about the disciples on that day, especially Peter who had repeatedly had promised Jesus that he would always be there for him. But he denied Jesus three times, and he abandoned Jesus when Jesus needed him the most. There must have been an immense amount of shame and the guilt on Peter’s heart on that Friday. Luckily, in three days, Jesus would conquer sin and death and redeem the guilt and shame that Peter was struggling to reconcile. 

DISCUSSION/REFLECTION QUESTION: When have you tried to hide or cover up a sin in your life? How did guilt and shame influence your decision to hide or run away?