In the last issue I began to present some general principles about freeing our true selves. The question is, How can we do this? The simple answer is that we   cannot do it unassisted. Unassisted we have no power to extract any images out of our own minds. Unassisted we are doomed either to repress or to think about any images that come to us. The answer to our dilemma, according to Paul, is in Jesus. “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts” – this is the only solution to our problem. Jesus’ approach must be ours if we are to be freed of the thoughts and feelings that we find in ourselves that keep us from growing.

How does Christ bring peace into our hearts? First He asks us to be open and honest about our thoughts. Whenever Jesus met evil and destructiveness He had the same approach: “Repent of your sin and I will forgive.” We cannot repent of our sin, of the evil of our false selves, if we do not acknowledge it is there. We cannot repent of our sin, similarly, if we only think about it and do not tell anyone of it. Repentance means honesty and confession.

So, rather than condemning ourselves for the bitter thought of revenge that we were thinking, Jesus calls us honestly and freely to bring it to Him to begin the process of spiritual growth. “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”, Paul wrote. By entering relationship with Jesus, we can avoid condemning ourselves and being condemned. When we are honest with the Lord about our bitter thoughts we are giving Him the opportunity to cleanse our imaginations of the images of revenge that are controlling them, and so we have the opportunity to discover our true selves.

Jesus knows that we have thoughts of vengeance, violence, lust, pride; there is no sense in trying to hide from Him what He already knows. And yet that is what we try to do when we repress our evil thoughts – we are trying to hide them from Him and from ourselves.