Welcome to Nancy Guthrie’s guided journal “Hoping for Something Better,” which she based on her book of the same title (Tyndale 2007).
New journal entries will appear in your profile Monday-Saturday for 6 weeks. If you missed any so far, stay subscribed to this feed and you can begin when it starts over. Be sure to start your own journal within your Beliefnet profile or in a notebook to respond to Nancy’s prompts.
Day 17
There is something better than living under a burden of guilt and shame. It is having your conscience cleansed and your sins forgiven.
Read Hebrews 8:1- 10:18.
Is there anything more painful than regret? Most of us who have lived very long at all have plenty of it—relationship blunders we’re sorry for, attitudes we’re ashamed of, hurts we’ve inflicted on others, anguish we’ve brought upon ourselves through self-centered, impulsive choices. We all have those things we’ve done that we are relieved no one can see on the surface, things we’ve tried to hide, hoping no one will notice.
And yet they eat away at us on the inside. Many of us carry around a heavy load of guilt and shame.
So what are we going to do? Are we destined to live forever trying to cover up the mistakes we’ve made, the messes we keep making? How are we going to get rid of our guilt? In Hebrews 8–10 we see that God has provided a way for us to get rid of our very real guilt so that we might draw near to him and know him.
In what specific ways, according to Jeremiah’s prophecy quoted in verses 8-12, does the new covenant differ from the old?
Which aspects of the way God relates to us under the New Covenant (8:10-12) are most meaningful to you personally?
What is it like to live with a guilty conscience? How have you experienced the freedom of a clear and cleansed conscience?
According to verses 9:11-14, what does the blood of Christ do that animals’ blood could not do?
What does the quotation from Psalm 40 in 10:5-10 reveal about King David’s understanding of the sacrificial system?
–Nancy Guthrie