Devotional Thought: Freedom

Are you the kind of person who tends to blame yourself for everything? If so, then you’re a lot like me.

Like the song says, when something goes wrong, I’m the first to admit it. I’m always second-guessing myself in every area of life. It ranges from the trivial (did I get everything right on that quiz?) to the less trivial (have I done wrong by a friend?)
It doesn’t really matter how unjustly I’m treated. It doesn’t really matter how obviously I’m in the right. I will always find some way to excuse the other party, particularly if that person is someone I look up to or trust. Whatever has gone wrong, in the end it must be my fault, somehow.
Recently I came to a point where I was finally able to let go of something I’d been beating myself up over for a long time. I realized the truth—that I was not guilty. I was free. I didn’t have to carry around that burden anymore. Even though the truth was something sad that I hadn’t wanted to admit, it freed me from that burden.
If you’re clinging to needless guilt, let go of it now, today. There are plenty of crosses you will not be able to avoid bearing in life, crosses God means for you to bear. Don’t add ones of your own making.