Those affected by abortion often suffer from guilt and grief. Can the Gospel be a source of hope and healing? Jonathan Schroeder reminds us that Jesus has already taken on the burden of our sins and that we don’t need to carry that weight any longer.
“That guilt and grief is not something that we can do anything about. God’s grace isn’t about finding people who can get their act together. It’s not about people who don’t have something in their past that keeps them awake at night. God’s grace is about the fact that God sent His Son into this world and said I will take your guilt on myself. I will take that all the grief, the sin, and the pain that you have in this world and I will suffer for it and I will die.”
Schroeder continues, saying that God no longer sees those past sins, but rather a pure heart.
“That’s the message of the Gospel: the grief, the sin, the past that we have – they’ve all been buried in a bottomless sea of the mercy of God. God says that because of what Jesus did, He can’t even remember them anymore. When He looks at you and He looks at me sees nothing but the holy and righteous nature of His son, Jesus.”
God’s message doesn’t need to deal with grief, because He’s already conquered it.
“God now calls on you to understand and believe this gospel message that Jesus says: ‘I forgive you all your sins. Therefore there is no condemnation for you’. So God’s message isn’t one of trying to deal with grief, God’s message is one of atoning for guilt and grief and doing that through his Son.”
Regardless of the source of the guilt and grief that we encounter, we can be sure that Jesus has overcome our sin.
Jonathan Schroeder is the pastor of Faith Lutheran in Sharpsburg, GA. He serves as the Moderator of the Institute of Worship and Outreach, pastor-at-large on the Synodical Council, and is actively involved in WELS School of Outreach and WELS School of Worship.
Lifting the guilt of abortion
