I will talk about a grain of sand in your running shoes. If you have sand in your shoes, you cannot enjoy your jogging or walking because you feel constant pain with every step you take. In the same way, if sand is in your soul when you walk in your spiritual journey, you cannot fully enjoy your Christian life. You must take that out if there is a grain of sand in you because the pain is not God’s blessing, but it is Satan’s cursing. God’s blessing always comes to us with confidence and indescribable peace that the Holy Spirit brings to us.

However, I start with the question of why some people experience more symptoms of spiritual unhealthy, such as anger issues, hopelessness, anxiety, and feelings of abandonment by God. I am not talking about medical terms but the spiritual pain deep within us that cannot be detected by MRI or blood tests.

When I walked around the Church parking lot, sometimes, I felt pain in my feet because of a grain of sand. If I felt the pain, I stopped and took it out, and walked. In the same way, if there is sand in your spiritual shoes that is constantly torturing your spiritual life, we need to take that out from there.

Guilt feeling and shame

The Christian armor of God that Apostle Paul was talking about is to put on the shoes that bring you to complete peace to enjoy your walking in your Christian salvation journey. In other words, saved Christians can experience spiritual suffering and emotional pain in their Christian life when a grain of sand gets in their shoes.

The spiritual meaning of the sand that tortures the Christian soul is the feeling of guilt of sin and shame. However, Guilty feeling and shame are not sins themselves, but these are our unhealthy emotions that comes from sin. Sin makes us feel guilty, and guilt puts us to shame.

In the story of Adam and Eve, they experienced a profound sense of guilt and shame. When God called them, “Where are you?” “He answered, ‘I heard you in the Garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so, I hid.’” In this conversation, we need to know that they were in the Garden which God made and gave them as blessing to enjoy to live in. Many Christians have suffered the same kinds of spiritual problems even though they are in Christ.

However, many people use guilt and shame interchangeably, but these are different emotions. “Guilt is the feeling you feel when you do something wrong because you are responsible for what you do wrong. Shame is the feeling that your whole self is wrong when you lose the image of God in you as a Christian value God has placed on your soul.

Examples of Recovery Process

I have an example for you. It will help you to articulate the differences between guilty feelings and shame and its internal dynamics. The guilt of sin is more like breaking a traffic law requiring payment of what you violate against the law. If you pay it, you will be fine. But there is one problem remain. If you get traffic tickets over and over, it accumulates points that bring you frustration. When you pay the paneity of your violation, you are free from it, but the traffic violation points that you hold cause the feeling of regret and bring your frustration.

It is another example. Some people do file for bankruptcy. Although it is not the best option, that proves financially beneficial and gives them a clean slate. When people file up, their debts will be discharge but bankruptcy ruin their credit score. They should rebuild their credit after bankruptcy. I researched how to restore credit after bankruptcy. Some website suggests taking nine steps to rebuild s credit after bankruptcy. Taking nine steps means they must manage their money spending habits to improve their credit score.

The feeling of regrets and frustrations are spiritual troubles that are sand in your soul.

How to Deal with Guilty and Shame

In Romans 10:8-15, Paul said, Jesus Christ paid guilt and penalty of sin of my past and present (may future) on the Cross, when we come and repent to Jesus Christ. “I will be free from all penalty of sins because it was fully paid. But I am still dealing with the feeling of regret or shame for the action that I frequently commit against God’s will in my daily life. That is the sand in my spiritual shous to torture my soul not to fully enjoy my salvation.

How can we be free from the shame of our internal state of inadequacy? Apostle Paul suggested that two things. First, we need to believe in our heart that “Jesus is the Lord.” Then, we will be justified because of what Jesus Christ did for us. Next, we need to confess and proclaim with our mouth. That means to take action by part of our body. The Bible said, if you believe in your heart and take action what you believe, you will never be put to shame before God.

In James 2:22, faith and actions were working together, and Christian faith was made complete by action. It is biblical truth. Forgiveness of penalty of sin is what Jesus Christ did for us; however, Christians righteous action before God brings restoration of our intimate relationship with God.

Conclusion

The Gospel of peace is one of the armors of God that enables us to enjoy complete peace in our Christian life. The gospel of peace is shalom in Hebrew. It means peace, wholeness and completeness. It is a holistic view of the well-being of a Christian’s spiritual, physical and healthy relationship with God and people in our community through our faith and actions.

Practical Applications

The Christian life of salvation does not look like boarding a cruise ship but boarding Noah’s Ark. While God is doing what needs to be done for us, Christians must also do what we are supposed to do.

There are two Christian practical applications. Prayer is a Christian vehicle that takes us from the guilt of sin and shame to the place of peace and joy. Prayer is the process of inviting Jesus Christ to take a rock of sin that we cannot take out. After that, we pray to God to ask the power of the Holy Spirit to take a grain of sand out from our spiritual shoes. That is the function of Christian prayer.

The second is to come to a place of worship to God. The moment of worship is the channel through which God pours out His mighty power and blessings when we worship, so God has told us to worship. Because God is still pouring out His blessings for us, we must receive and use them.

Prayer and worship God is the time to have the gospel of peace to enhance Christian spiritual ability and physical activity to enjoy God’s blessings entirely in our Christian spiritual life.

Our church is here to help you to become radiant people, enjoy your brilliant life, and look for a bright future.

2022.07.25. Pastor Cloud Poy

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