Don’t ‘Should’ on Yourself.

“Don’t should on yourself.”

This is a phrase I’ve heard many times over the last year. Jeremy, one of our mentors during the Leadership Development Progam (LDP) internship I and six others embarked on through our church, used this phrase throughout our time together as a Life Group, and any many other settings. During the time in the program, and even more so since, I’ve found myself using this same phrase when speaking to other believers.

It seems like such a simple phrase, but it really carys with it a profound meaning.

So often in our Christian walk, we get down on ourselves and what we “should have done” or “shouldn’t have done.”

 

Does this sound familiar?

“I really should have talked more with the stranger in front of me in the checkout line when they asked about the Christian shirt I was wearing. I should have exchanged numbers with them and let them know I would follow up with them with more info about my church and why I was wearing a shirt with the Church’s name on it.”

 

Or this?

“I shouldn’t have gotten angry at that car for cutting me off. I shouldn’t have screamed, honked my horn, or flipped that person off. I have Christian bumper stickers on my car. I’m wearing a Chrsitian bracelet on the same wrist I just used to ‘flip the bird’. I shouldn’t have done that!”

“I should have done this…”

“I should have done that….”

Full disclosure, that second one is me to a “T”. It’s like I go from being Dr. Jeckel to Mr’ Hyde when I get behind the wheel. Other drivers trigger me like nothing else.

Speaking of “Triggered”, yes I am referencing our current series at church. If you attend Gateway here in Austin, you know the series. If not, you should check it out via podcast or the church site (which I would be happy to send you).

 

Now, I should really get back to my point…

 

See what I did there???

 

Any phrase that starts with any version of “I should” is going to be one that drags along with it guilt, shame and a feeling of being less than or “not who God created me to be.” Jeremy brought that phrase up so often because it needed to be reiterated to all of us…over and over again.

For almost all Christians, new or long-time, we have spent so much of our lives being told what we should and shouldn’t do. In most cases we were brought up in a church, school and home where every bad decision we made was scrutinized and judged with extreme prejudice. We were raised on “hellfire and brimstone” preaching that taught us that we were “sinners in the hands of an angry God.”

 

Here’s the deal…

We are all sinners. We would be so in the hands of an angry God.

But that “angry God” chose to love us so much that He would send His only Son to be born, live, walk among us and preach His Salvation to us. Not just that, though. He loved us enough to select some of the least among us to be the men and women to continue His teaching and ensure that it passed to us through the millenia. And when the time came for the Son to take upon Himself every last sin that every human who had ever been or would ever be would commit, the Son did so willingly.

Why?!

Because as much as God loves us, so too does the Son, Jesus. Because Jesus took upon himself all of our sins, the “angry God” we heard about growing up saw His Wrath satisfied.

The entirety of the human race could never hope to atone for the sins committed by even one of us.

And we don’t have to.

That debt was already paid. Christ took that debt upon Himself, and paid for ALL who would believe in Him, for ALL TIME.

So, when that phrase is spoken; “Don’t should on yourself”, it is spoken with profound confidence, knowing that we don’t need to worry about what we should or shouldn’t have done.

When we sin, confess and ask forgiveness. Absolutely.

But also know that God is not sitting there wagging His finger at us about what we should have done differently. He is waiting and willing to wipe clean our ledger and stamp down on our bill of sins

“Tetelestai”; 

“Paid in full”; 

“IT IS FINISHED.” 

The last words Christ uttered on the cross, were the words that finalized the payment of the bill for our sins once, for all time.

The next time you feel the phrase “You should/shouldn’t…” start to creep into your mind, just remember the phrase “Don’t should on yourself.” Remember that when you falter, your Good Good Father is not scolding you. He’s waiting with open arms to forgive you.

So…

”Don’t should on yourself.”