Conviction and Condemnation by Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer Ministries: That’s an interesting question, isn’t it? I think I know the answer but I want to hear what you have to say.

R.T. Kendall: Well, it comes right back to what Jesus did for us on the cross. We always go back to the cross. The best way you can dignify the blood, honor the blood, is to forgive yourself and say, “look, I can’t go back, I can’t relive this.” The devil would want you to condemn yourself forever. God says, “stop it! This is why I sent my son to die on the cross.” So you’re back to the same thing:  “It’s because Jesus died and I really believe it. I pronounce myself free because he does.”

Joyce Meyer Online: Obviously, if you’ve hurt someone, it would be nice if you could go back to that person and say, “I’m sorry I hurt you. Will you forgive me?” But the truth is even if that person were still alive and they say, “no, I will not forgive you,” that doesn’t keep you from receiving forgiveness because it’s really God’s forgiveness that we have to have in order to be able to properly let it go and get beyond it within ourselves. I would imagine there’s a good number of people who maybe have hurt people and those people won’t forgive them, but that doesn’t mean they can’t have forgiveness because once again it’s God’s forgiveness that we really truly need. Well, we’ve got some questions here that I think are kind of interesting. The first one is: How do you know if the difference between conviction and condemnation… How do you know what the difference is, especially when you want — when you want — to continue to feel the pain of guilt and condemnation?

R.T. Kendall: The reason one wants to do that is because he thinks or she thinks they’ve got to punish themselves. There’s an interesting verse in 1 John 4:18: “Perfect love casts out fear.” Fear has to do with punishment. You see, when we don’t feel forgiven, we want to punish ourselves, and in a perverse sort of way, for some it feels good.

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