“And
Abimelech said, ‘What is this you have done to us? One of the people might soon
have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.’” Genesis 26:10
There are times when people are bound by guilt long after the feeling should have been
resolved. Some rightly live with it
because they refuse to give up the sin that brought it on. Meanwhile, others suffer the weight of false guilt because they harbor shame that does not belong to
them. Whatever the root causes of your
condemnation, the battle plan remain the same.
Victory over guilt begins
with understanding that Jesus took our shame to the cross and paid our
penalty. There is no way that we can pay
for our own sin. The Living Bible says: “God showed His great love by sending Christ to
die for us while we were still sinners…and now He has declared us not guilty…Since,
when we were His enemies, we were brought back to God by the death of His Son,
what blessings He must have for us now that we are His friends and He is living
within us! Now we rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God – all because
of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done in dying for our sins – making us
friends of God” (Romans 5:8-11). But
we do need to honestly identify the source of our guilt and confess before God. That means we agree with His perspective on
what we have done. In other words, we
admit when we are wrong. When we admit
that we are wrong, we are accepting responsibility for our actions—in today’s vernacular…we
are owning up to it. Repentance goes a
step further; we turn away from the wrong and choose to do right.
Confronting
guilt in this way
replaces the weight of shame in our heart with peace and joy, which are far
lighter and more freeing. And an amazing
side effect is that we have wisdom to share.
Openness about our past mistakes, resulting consequences, guilt burdens,
and forgiveness can reveal the Lord to those in our sphere of influence. Through our witness, God may reach others who
need their guilt
chains broken.
A young man shared
this amazing testimony with me: He was out
jogging one day when he ran past a homeless man. The Holy Spirit impressed upon his heart to
stop and asked the homeless man if he would do him the honor of having lunch
with him that day. The homeless man just
stared at him and at first said, “No, I am not hungry.” However, the young man continued by saying, “That’s
alright, would you have a cup of coffee with me?” The homeless man replied, “I guess so.” The two men went to a nearby restaurant and
had lunch together. During their meal
and conversation the homeless man related his burdens, and the young man was
able to relate the love of Christ to someone who had never experience being asked
out to eat. This reminded me of another
young man (Jesus) who asked a sinner (Zacchaeus) if he would do Him the honor
of having dinner with Him, “Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who
was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could
not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. So he ran ahead and
climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, He looked
up and saw him, and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus make haste and come down, for
today I must stay at your house.’ So he made haste and came down, and received
Him joyfully. But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, ‘He has gone to be a guest with
a man who is a sinner.’ Then Zacchaeus
stood and said to the Lord, ‘Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor;
and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore
fourfold.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of
Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was
lost’” (Luke 19:1-10).
The battle to overcome guilt is one
that should not be delayed. The feeling
will not just do away. Whether your
condemnation is true or false, it needs to be dealt with quickly. Stop running, and face the source of your guilt. It is time
to end your captivity and start walking in the joy of God’s blessing.
Prayer—Father I thank You for Your
great love for me and sending Your Son Jesus Christ to suffer the punishment
for my guilt and shame so that I do not have too. Today, I choose to confront the source of
guilt in my life. If it is because of
sin in my life, Lord I ask You to shine the light of Spirit upon any area in me
that is the source of this guilt and I confess and repent of it before You
today. I ask You to remove any false
burdens of guilt that Satan has laid upon me, and I ask You for the power of
the Holy Spirit to help me live a life free of false burdens and guilt, in
Jesus Name. Amen.
