Condemnation:


1: to declare to be reprehensible, wrong, or evil usually after weighing evidence and without reservation

2: to adjudge unfit for use or consumption

3: to pronounce guilty

I had another tattoo added to one of my arms last fall. It was a bible verse and something I like to say all the time to the girls I work with. “The long way around.”

The actual saying that I use with the girls is, “Sometimes, people are just going to have to take the long way around.” I say that because I have witnessed that to be true.

Despite knowing that the path they’re on leads only to destruction; despite hearing from people who have already walked a dangerous road, they are bound and determined to try things their way. I can tell by their protests and defenses that they think their outcome will be different.

The thing I believe with all my heart is that if I had heard the truth before I set out on my path of rejection and rebellion, my life wouldn’t have taken such a long way around to God’s road. When I was told about God, I was usually in too altered of a state to hear the truth when it was offered to me.

And although I know that God has redeemed all of my poor choices and poor living and used them to speak truth into people’s lives, I sometimes wish I could have cut the long way around short by a decade or so. Just because I still have a residue of ‘less than’ that I have to rise above all the time.

Anyway, it saddens my heart when I see someone who has heard the truth decide to set it aside for some temporary pleasures or thoughtless actions that won’t get them anywhere.

I’ve heard all the excuses; “I’m not ready to give up all my fun yet.” Or, “I have to clean up some things in my life before I come to Christ.” Or, worst of all, “I still have time when I’m older to turn to Jesus.”

I can show them the bible passages. I can tell them how much of my life I wasted trying to drown my life in drugs and alcohol and cheap relationships. They know I grew up in an abusive home with no money and little love. But they still want to dance around the edges of Jesus in hopes that they’ll still have time when they decide they’re ready to ‘settle down’ and surrender.

So, since I say the phrase so often, I decided to add it to my arm. I wanted it as a reminder for myself as well as the people I talk to all the time. I don’t like it that people decide to take the long way around, but I don’t really have a choice in the matter. God knows that they’re going to decide that. He also knows the final outcome of that decision. Maybe those who choose that will use their experiences to help others. Maybe they’ll finish out their lives with sadness and regret.

But back to the bible verse I have with that phrase. It’s Romans 8:1, “Therefore there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” It’s really for me the redemptive piece of choosing to take the long way around. It’s the sentence in the bible that for me tells me that everything is still okay, no matter what bad choices I made in my past.

It reminds me that none of us are worthy on our own to make it to heaven and eternal life with Jesus, and once we are His, there is no more condemnation. We are no longer enemies of Christ.

In a devotional I recently wrote I told the girls this; “The world cannot tell us who we are; and we are not condemned with the world any longer. We have left this world for something much, much better. We are secure because of Christ; and we are covered by the blood that He shed for us. Jesus is our defender; He is pleased with who we are becoming in Him. When the world tries to put you down, or you make a mistake; there may be consequences, but God forgives. Always remember to keep moving forward, and try not to take the long way around.”

That is the supreme beauty of the love that we find in Jesus Christ. We are found fit for use, rather than what the definition of condemnation and the enemy may tell us. We are new. We are no longer defined as who we were, regardless of how long we went around without knowing the sweet truth and freedom found only in Him.

I won’t lie. It breaks my hearts when anyone thinks that they have to continue to repeat the sins of the generations who came before them. That there’s no escape; no hope. It hurts to think about all the days, months, years that these girls are going to choose to go through life alone, without the warmth and love that only a true Father can provide.

I find solace in knowing that Jesus yearns for them far more than I ever could even imagine. That His heart breaks more than mine ever could. And that His arms will be open and He will run and embrace them when they finally get off that long way around.


8 The LORD is compassionate and merciful,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
9 He will not constantly accuse us,
nor remain angry forever.
10 He does not punish us for all our sins;
he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
11 For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
12 He has removed our sins as far from us
as the east is from the west.
13 The LORD is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
- Psalm 103:8-13

“The news we hear here is marvelous.”There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus." In the midst of the darkness of sin, in the midst of the inevitability of judgment, that is a comforting word. That is a thrilling promise from God that fills the heart with hope. And any thinking mind and any hoping soul should run eagerly to receive such a provision as is offered in chapter 8 verse 1. In fact, some say this is the most hopeful verse in all the Bible. And they may well be right.” – John McArthur