Its been a while since ive been able to get on here and blog my thoughts, but its kind of hard when I don’t have internet anymore, but that’s aside the point. Ive been dealing with a certain issue enough lately that I just had to talk to God, and come over to my parent’s workplace, just to get online and share what I realized. Lately JB has been preaching on sin, and going and sinning no more, letting go of your past mistakes, or just normal mistakes in general. But, in doing this, I realized that in order to do that, in order to forgive yourself and let God forgive you, you must come face to face with “GUILT”. Guilt sucks. It does. You know exactly what it is and what its like, guilt eats at everyone to some degree. We all have had to lay our heads on our pillow at night and accept the fact that we have not done as well as we could have done. And if you don’t confront it or deal with it, Satan will use that repeatedly to eat you up and destroy you from the inside out, and keep you from what God has planned for you.
Guilt has been a problem since sin entered our world, which is why sin is the cause of 99.9% of all guilt. Its that deteriorating feeling in your heart you feel when you know you did something wrong. It was guilt that caused Adam and Eve to hide when God came walking in the cool of the day. When the Pharisees brought the woman caught in adultery, Jesus looked at the angry mob and said, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to through a stone at her." It was guilt that caused ALL the men to drop their stones, one by one, and walk away. How do you respond to your guilt? Ive realized a couple things that people do when guilt comes their way:
1. First, some people rationalize their guilt. Think about it: Have you ever listened to what people say when they’re caught doing something wrong? I remember reading somewhere that a man was arrested for stealing a car parked at a cemetery. When he stood before the judge, he said, "Since the car was parked at the cemetery, I just assumed that the driver was dead.” Really?!?!? C’mon! Did you even think about that answer?!?! I had a buddy I met at ACC who worked for progressive auto insurance claims. He heard the best of these.
“Coming home, I drove to the wrong house and collided with a tree that I don’t have.”
“A pedestrian hit me and went under my car.”
“I pulled away from the shoulder of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law and then drove into the ditch.”
“The pedestrian had no idea of which way to jump so I ran over him.”
Funny stuff, huh? Well, before you start laughing at these attempts to rationalize mistakes, do you ever wonder what our excuses sound like to God when we’re guilty of sin? Haha......... Yeaaaaaah, that feeling right there.............................. Sucks, doesn’t it? The difference here is that God doesn’t care what you’ve done. By his grace, He takes you back every time, and tells you to “Go, and sin no more”. The insurance company will laugh at your petty attempt at an excuse, drop you from coverage, or at the very least, raise your rate to unimaginable heights.
2. Some people Deny their guilt. There is a perfect example of that in the Bible. (Keep in mind, im paraphrasing here!) Israel was at war, and King Saul was instructed by Samuel the prophet to destroy all of the property belonging to the king of the enemy nation. However, Saul looked at the sheep and cattle this king owned, and began to estimate its worth. Finally, he decided to disobey God and keep the king’s possessions for himself. He forgot that God sees everything we do. God sent the prophet Samuel to confront Saul with his guilt. So what did Saul do? He tried to fool Samuel into thinking everything was great! He greeted the prophet and said, "Look I have done everything God told me to do!" And Samuel said something to the effect of, "Oh yeah? Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t I hear the sound of sheep and cattle in the background?" and Saul said, "Oh that. Well, yeah, we did take some of their sheep to use as a sacrifice." Samuel then told Saul, "To obey is better than sacrifice" (1 Samuel 15). Isn’t it amazing that people have the capacity to deny guilt when the evidence before them is unquestionable?
3. Lastly, some people run from their guilt. Bars are filled with people trying to run away from their guilt. You see, the problem with running from our guilt is that it follows us wherever we go. We cant run away from our guilt. We cant drink our guilt away. We cant hide our guilt. Until we take care of our guilt, then we will be plagued by it.
So, what do these responses to guilt have in common? Well obviously, they don’t work. Some of you know exactly what im talking about. Like me, you have tried to rationalize yor guilt. Like me, you have tried to deny your guilt. Like me, you have tried to run away from your guilt, or drown it in alchohol. And like me, you have learned that no matter what you do, you still feel guilty.
Well, this is where the story gets good. There is a solution to the problem with our guilt. We don’t have to keep fighting a losing battle. We can be guilt-free. Our guilt and our sins have been taken care of by Jesus on the cross. Embrace God’s forgiveness. "When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; He took it away, nailing it to the cross" (Col. 2:13-14). "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1) David said it best. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgression from us" (Psalm 103:12) God has said that our guilt has been removed; He has said we are clean. When God forgives, the sin is totally annihilated. It doesn't exist in you and me any longer. It doesn't exist in heaven. Guilt is gone. It can only exist in our memories.
Although people receive God's forgiveness, some people do not forgive themselves. (This was me for the longest time) They walk around forgiven in the eyes of God, but yet are guilt ridden. They feel guilt for the sins that they have committed in the past. In (Luke 5:8), Peter fell at Jesus' knees crying, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" Like me, Peter was so guilt ridden for the life that he had led that he didn't feel worthy being around Jesus, or in church for that matter. Jesus said to him, “Don’t be afraid.” Even though we may have committed some terrible sins in our past, when we have been forgiven by God, we have nothing to fear. Jesus is telling us, "Don't be afraid." When we accept, believe and trust in the forgiveness of God, God uses our faith to defeat our personal guilt. He doesn’t want us to walk around suffering from guilt. He wants us to live in victory. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). The way to be healed of guilt is to believe what God tells us about His forgiveness. Embrace His forgiveness not only today, but everyday so that you can begin to live guilt free.
