“Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace.”
The last few days I have been listening to a song by Christian hip hop artist FLAME. In "Start Over" FLAME raps the verses with NF singing a powerful chorus about how God's grace meets us in our despair and shows us the great exchange that has happened in Christ to free us from the guilt, penalty, and power of sin.
Despair is a powerful and often paralyzing experience. It tells us the lie that God doesn't care about us in our moments of darkness, and that, even if He did care, He can't do anything about it. These thoughts simply aren't true. As FLAME says,
“Don’t let your heart be troubled
Don’t be afraid
To the broken-hearted that wished that they’d
Never been born, never been torn, never sinned, never disobeyed
I know you think there’s no hope, but that ain’t true, Jesus saves!”
Perhaps you believe that you have done something so bad that you think that you can never be forgiven. Maybe other people know about what you have done and maybe they don't. Either way, your guilt doesn't have to rule your life, and you can be free in Christ. Listen again:
“I know you feelin’ regret
(Like I) brought this all on myself
(Like I) messed it up big time, and this time I don’t deserve God’s help
(Thinking) how can God forgive me after knowin’ what I did (can He?)”
The antidote to guilt and despair is hope. There is hope in Jesus who took your place and your sin on the cross and then rose from the dead to secure the forgiveness of sins.
“So, whatever it is that you’ve done
He put that punishment on His Son
You’ll never come under His condemnation conquer sin and Satan, and his accusations
So, dry your eyes, lift up your head
Hallelujah! God is not dead!
Plus He gave us His peace, and He took our guilt on the cross instead
Took our place and now we embrace
A clean slate with the eyes of faith
We know unfailing love, unfailing love, it’s not too late, start over”
If you are in the midst of despair today believing the lie that you are too far gone to be saved by God or that you have done something too bad to be rescued by His grace, realize that there is hope in Christ. In fact, this is precisely the reason that Jesus came into the world: to save each us from danger. We have a Savior who has come into the world to seek and save that which is lost. To bind up the broken-hearted. To set the captive free. That's you and that's me! You don't have to carry your past or your sins because Jesus has already carried it for you.
“You can carry the past on your shoulders
Or you can start over
Regrets, no matter what you gone through
Jesus, He gave it all to save you
He carried the cross on His shoulders
So you can start over”
If you're struggling with regrets, guilt, and despair, take a few moments to watch the "Start Over" music video and be encouraged.
