I read a Facebook post a couple of weeks ago that posed the issue of knowing the difference between conviction and condemnation…. It said that conviction is usually quite specific (like “go to that person and make amends” or “that was wrong”), where condemnation is more general (like “I am hopeless, pathetic, stupid”).
Both can be extremely uncomfortable but – in God – conviction is good/appropriate/necessary/helpful/brings growth and is from Him – where condemnation is stifling/heavy/unhelpful/unhealthy/confounds growth, and not from Him.
As my month of moods does its circle, I have found this little insight a rather helpful tool of discernment.
I have long believed that feelings are well capable of telling us lies… That believing everything our feelings suggest is dangerous… But this I found to be an extra level of clarification.