Dealing With Guilt
(By: Aubrie Benting - Set Free Ministries)
Guilt.
What does the word bring to mind? Shame? Feeling dirty? A pit-in-the-stomach, "Let me crawl under a bush and hide" kind of feeling?
Ohhhhh ... guilt. We've all felt it.
It's the five letter feeling that makes a grand entrance, like an internal alarm system firing uncontrollably, until it has us red in the face and looking left and right to see if anyone is pointing fingers.
Guilt is loud and uncomfortable; so uncomfortable in fact that we quickly like to get rid of it, but as it turns out we can't, so we cover it up with something else; something we are a little more comfortable with, like anger or rejection.
Almost instinctively we take the spotlight of correction and point it until we reason out a logical object of blame, and then that object (it could be a situation, a person, or even the very one who you committed the offense against) is the one with the issue while we tip-toe out the back door as the victim thinking 'If she wouldn't have done this to me first,' or 'if He didn't hold such a high standard then I wouldn't feel guilty.' I think we pull that line on God quite often without even realizing that we do. We imagine Him in the judges seat, holding up an unattainable standard and pronouncing 'guilty, guilty, guilty' until we run from the courthouse in tears feeling completely rejected and then eventually downright angry at Him for rejecting us. And then we stay away' anything to keep from hearing those blaring sirens of guilt. Plus, He's the one rejecting us anyways. It's His fault.
The adversary just loves to capitalize on this 1-2 punch. First comes the lie that it's okay to sin and then unbearable guilt that it wasn't okay to sin. He convinces you that God's had it -- no more love, no more grace, and no more forgiveness for such a failure of a follower. And then we buy it, hook, line, and sinker, rendering us completely crippled in our walk with God, or sometimes headed straight down the wrong path because it feels better to be among those who accept your sin.
But that's just another lie. Life apart from God will not feel better at all, but will continue to make you be taunted by an unrelenting, isolated, sin-guilt, sin-guilt cycle with no way out. Eventually we find ourselves hard-hearted towards God and sin until the relationship that once was there is all but eradicated. But God's love never fails. (See: Romans 8:31-39)
The truth is - God knows we will sin. In fact, every single sin we try to hide has already been previewed and paid for long before it even happened. God saw it all - even down to our efforts at hiding and running, and He still said, 'This one. This one's mine.' It's for such sins that we have Jesus.
We need Jesus. God created it to be that way. Who would need a Savior if there wasn't any sin? No one! But as it is, all have sin. All have guilt. All need the Savior Jesus Christ. Guilt is uncomfortable for a reason; human beings cannot carry it. This is also a part of the plan. Every time that pit-in-the-stomach, I've-done-something-wrong- feeling arrives, and it will, you can plan on it; run to the only One who can truly take it for you. It's for such a reason He has sacrificed His life. Don't buy the lie that God will reject you. He loves you and longs for restored relationship, each and every time you sin. His forgiveness takes your sin as far as the east is from the west and is offered 70 times 7 times over. Will you let Him?
Dear Reader - are you at peace with God? If not, you can be. Do you know what awaits you when you die? You can have the assurance from God that heaven will be your home, if you would like to be certain. You can even have that assurance RIGHT NOW! Either Jesus Christ died for your sins, or He didn't (He did!). Are you prepared to stand before God on the Judgment Day and tell Him that you didn't need the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross to have your sins forgiven and get in right-standing with God? We plead with you...please don't make such a tragic mistake.
To get to know God, to be at peace with God, to have your sins forgiven, to make certain heaven will be your home for eternity, to make certain that you are in right-standing with God right now ... please click here to help you understand the importance of being reconciled to God. What you do about being reconciled to God will determine where you will spend eternity, precious one. Your decision to be reconciled to God is the most important decision you'll ever make in this life, because in Christ, it is impossible to put a value on the worth of your soul in light of eternity.
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Remember: All that we do in this life comes back to our God-given purpose which is to serve and glorify God. The money and assets we accumulate, the fame and power we've attained or seek to attain - all of the things of this nature will one day pass away, but those lives of others we impact for Jesus Christ will last for eternity, and we will be rewarded for the part we helped play by impacting those lives ... for eternity. (Matthew 6:19-20 is our assurance)