When You Beat Yourself Up with the Gospel

Allowed to Feel One thing I run into a ton in pastoral ministry and soul care, especially as a counselor, is people who feel a sense of failure because of their emotions. On one hand, obviously, the gospel is at the center of our freedom and our hope and the grace and mercy of Jesus that comes to us. In any failure you have anywhere—in your actions, thoughts, or emotions—we have forgiveness. We have a God who not only can pardon us but who even transforms us in the midst of our failings to grow. And so you can look at something in yourself and know that it is not good and know that the Lord is working in you, even by identifying that. He only ever convicts us when he intends to grow us. So, there’s hope even when there’s failure in our lives. Having said that, one of the things that makes me saddest is when I watch Christians actually use the gospel—the best promises and truths of Scripture—to beat themselves up and make themselves feel worse, in particular about their emotions. Feeling bad about your emotions is normal. It’s a common human experience, whether secular or religious. But there’s a particular way in which Christians actually take the gospel and say God is in control, ...