Have you ever felt so guilty you
couldn’t look someone in the eye? Guilt is tremendously motivating. While the
possibility of feeling guilty may not stop us from doing something wrong, once
we feel guilty, we’ll do almost anything to avoid being found out. Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle, the creator of the famed fictitious detective Sherlock Holmes,
once played a terrible practical joke. He wrote an unsigned letter and mailed
it to twelve prominent men. It said, “All is discovered. Flee at once!” Within
forty-eight hours all of them had left the country. Guilty!
Though people in our society rarely
use the word “sin” in conversation anymore, we can’t get rid of guilt, and it
has a powerful effect on us. Guilt weakens and destroys. It can create a sense
of anxiety—a nameless, unknown fear. It can produce a depression that hangs
over our heads like a black rain cloud. It can make us feel unclean, soiled, and
worthless. It can give us such a poor self-image that we become our own worst
enemies. Guilt can even create physical illness; after David sinned with
Bathsheba, he said, “My bones grew old through my groaning all day long” (Psalm
32:3).
There is a difference between guilt
and guilt feelings. You may have bad feelings even though you’re not guilty.
Psychiatrists may help you get rid of guilt feelings, but they don’t know how
to handle the guilt. Many of them don’t even like the word. They use “confused” or
“mixed up priorities” instead. But the Bible says, “For all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) and “There is none righteous, no,
not one” (Romans 3:10). Our guilt is so permanent, it seems engraved in
granite. We cannot blame it away. We cannot push it down or trade it for
another emotion.
We can get rid of our guilt in only
one way—by asking Christ for forgiveness. Do you need to ask His forgiveness
for something today? Confess to Him, and unburden your heart. Allow Him to wash
you perfectly clean.
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