Guilt
By: Karen Lao & Ian Reid
Guilt is a difficult
emotion to understand and even more difficult to eliminate. Worse, it can stay hidden for years, and then
suddenly re-appear. To understand guilt,
its reason, its place in our lives, and how to deal with it, are essential to
living a life for God.
Guilt is a natural result of the wrong that we have done;
we’ve hurt someone, and we feel bad; it’s a good thing to have wired into
us. Without guilt, we would not be aware
that we had done wrong. Guilt happens,
when the cost of doing wrong, is greater than the benefit of doing wrong. When we hurt, through guilt, it reminds us
not to do that bad thing again.
Guilt forces us to take responsibility for our actions. It’s a voice that says, “You did wrong.” In
spiritually healthy people, our consciences hold us accountable. To feel guilt, is to know that we have
crossed the line from right to wrong; therefore, we are out of
equilibrium. The guilt is not bad; it is
like a warning alarm telling us to act now to fix the problem. Once the problem is solved the guilt should
end.
Despite this, there are many problems with guilt; thankfully
all of them are solvable.
Initially, we might feel that our sin is unforgivable;
therefore, we are beyond forgiveness. This
is not true; God forgives everyone
for everything. The only exception is to
sin against the Holy Spirit – this is unforgivable. Note: please ask a competent pastor about
this sin.
The truth is that your sin is forgiven. This is such an important point to
understand: God forgives you –
totally. What does the Bible say?
Job
In Numbers
“When a man or woman
commits any of the sins that men commit by breaking faith with the Lord, and
that person is guilty, he shall confess that sin which he has committed; he
shall make full restitution for his wrong.”
This means that when you
have done something wrong, you must confess
this to God. To confess means to admit,
and take responsibility for your wrong.
Next you need to repay that person, if this is possible. The word restitution means to pay back for a
wrong that you have done. You cannot
always do this; however, try your best. For
example, if the person has died; then pay back his family. Inside your heart you will know if you have
tried your best to find the person and repay him; however, if you really cannot find the person, or if he
is dead and has no family, then by all means, give the money to a church.
Psalms 32:3-5 is beautiful.
“When I declared not my
sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your [God’s] hand was upon
me; my strength was dried up like the heat of summer. I acknowledged [confessed] my sin to you, and
I did not hide my iniquity [sin]; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions
[sins] to the Lord’; and you [God] did forgive my sins.”
The writer of this section
says that when he kept his sin a secret (to undeclare, means to keep it
secret), then he got terribly sick (to waste away). God’s hand (his anger) was on the man, and he
felt like a person that was dying of thirst in the summer. Then, the man told God about his sin, and God
forgave him.
In Psalms 103:2 the writer honours God who “forgives all you
[his and our] iniquities [sins].”
In Isaiah
“Though your sins are like
scarlet [blood red], they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson;
they shall become like wool.”
Through symbolism, God
explains that he will forgive us of our sins; therefore, we must not keep our
guilt.
Isaiah
Isaiah 40:2 says,
“Comfort, comfort to my
people, says your God…her [
Again, God is telling us
that we need not keep our guilt.
Isaiah 44:1 God says, “Fear not for I have redeemed you; I
have called you by name, you are mine.”
In the sentences before the passage, God says that he has been very
angry with His people, but now he tells them not to be afraid because he has
redeemed them. To redeem, means to take
back a person that has done wrong. God’s
assurance to us is the same, he forgives us; therefore, we must let go of our
guilt.
In Isaiah 50:9 the writer states, “Behold the Lord God helps
me; who will declare me guilty?” It is
God’s right to hold us guilty; it is not the right of other people. If God forgives us then nobody has the right
to hold us guilty of anything.
In Isaiah 51:22 God says, “behold I have taken from your hand
the cup of suffering; the cup of my wrath you shall drink no more.” Symbolically, the cup of God’s wrath represents
God’s anger. This cup of anger which
we’ve had to drink has been taken away by God’s mercy and love. We have been freed from our guilt.
In the New Testament,
in II Corinthians
In Romans 5:6-11, the writer explains that it is through the
death of Jesus; we are reconciled or brought back to the love of God. The writer says that because of Jesus’ death;
God’s wrath [burning anger] is cancelled.
We are totally forgiven; therefore, we have no need for guilt.
II Corinthians 5:17-19 the writer Paul states,
“Therefore if anyone is in
Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold the new has come.
All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us
the ministry [responsibility] reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was
reconciling the world to himself not counting their trespasses [sins] against
them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”
The above passage states, “Anyone” that believes and loves
Jesus, is a “new creation.” A new
creation means that he is totally new; with no sin, no past – just brand
new. The fact that he is “a new creation,”
means that his sin and guilt are forgotten by God. The writer explains that Jesus died, in order
to clear us of sin; therefore, no sin – no guilt. We are then given the responsibility to live
a life without guilt.
Jesus’ death brought us back to God’s perfect love. Our trespasses, which are sins, are all forgiven. All record of sin is gone; therefore, all
guilt is gone.
Psalms 51 is a beautiful passage, dealing with a man that
realizes his guilt, and wants to talk with God about it.
“Have mercy on me, O God according to your steadfast [strong,
never failing] love, according to your abundant [more than enough] mercy
[forgiveness] blot out [erase] my transgressions [sins], wash me thoroughly
from my iniquity [sins], and cleanse me from my sin!”
Simply put: The man
wants God to forgive him, and he is confident that God will forgive him because
he knows that God’s love and mercy are “abundant.” He asks God to forget all his sins and to
wash him clean of evil. This man doesn’t want to keep his guilt; he wants
to start again and be godly.
Psalms 38:1 says “O lord, do not rebuke [punish] me in your
anger.” The writer doesn’t want to keep
his guilt; he is fearful of God, and is pleading with God to forgive him. This demonstrates a very healthy attitude
towards guilt.
Jesus’ words were very reasoning to those of us that don’t
want to keep our guilt.
In Matthew 5:7, Jesus says, “Blessed are the merciful, for
they shall obtain mercy.” This is a very
simple message. Forgive other people
when they have hurt you, and God will forgive you when you sin. Since you are forgiven by God – the only
person that can have judgment over you – then you must not keep your guilt.
In Matthew 9:2, a paralyzed man was brought before Jesus’ to
be healed. Once Jesus healed the man, he
said, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” It was important to Jesus to let the man know
that He, Jesus, could heal the sins of a person. In this passage, to heal the sins, means to
kill the guilt. He said this publicly to
let the spectators know that He could
forgive sin; therefore, when we ask him to remove our sin and guilt; he does
just that – he heals us.
Matthew
One of Jesus’ disciples (students) was called Peter. At the last supper that Jesus had with his
disciples; Jesus told them that they would abandon him. Peter immediately said he would die for Jesus
and not abandon him. Jesus’ response was
to tell Peter that before the rooster crowed at dawn; that Peter would deny
that he knew Jesus, three times. This
happened. Once Peter had denied that he
knew Jesus for third time the Bible says that he (Peter) went and wept (cried)
bitterly (Luke 23:62).
Note: the entire story of the last supper and Peter’s denial
are located in Luke 22:14-62. In the
book of John, Jesus, after he had risen from the dead, visited his disciples;
just as he said that he would. Jesus
knew that Peter was suffering terribly because he had hurt Jesus; so he walked
up to Peter and confronted him. Next, he
gave Peter the responsibility to feed the lambs (people), and look after
them. Not only was Peter forgiven; he
was also given responsibility. If Peter
had kept his guilt, it would have consumed him.
Getting over guilt allows you to be free. Once you’re free you can do God’s work.
When Jesus was being crucified, there were two criminals, one
on his left and one on his right. One of
the criminals made-fun of Jesus; the other one, who was aware was aware of his
own guilt, kept quiet. He said to Jesus,
“Jesus remember me when you get to your kingdom [heaven]” (Luke
Luke 18:1 tells the story of Zacchaeus the tax
collector. Once Jesus make him realize
that he (Zacchaeus) has hurt people throughout his life; he tells Jesus that he
will repay all those that he has stolen from, four times more than he has taken
from them. Jesus replied “Today,
salvation has come to this house” (Luke 18:9).
Zacchaeus’ sins were forgiven; as a result, he was cleansed of guilt.
Some random thoughts on
guilt
It causes you to isolate yourself from the person that you
have hurt, and possibly from their friends and co-workers. You can’t spread Jesus love by keeping away
from somebody.
By having guilt, you do not believe God when he says many
times, and in many ways, that he forgives you.
It’s possible that God has allowed you hurt the person, to
test them to see if they will forgive
you.
Your guilt could be that you want to punish yourself. If God doesn’t punish you; then you needn’t punish you.
Guilt might make you see others more rigidly. The attitude being, that if I’ve done
something bad, and can’t forgive myself; then I can’t forgive that action in
someone else either.
To get over guilt is difficult; however, not impossible. At the very core of healing, is the idea that
nothing happens without God’s
consent. There’s no question about
it. You’re forgiven.
God would never allow you to suffer through needless
guilt. He wants you to leave the guilt
behind you.
Take that frustration and channel it into something positive.
Pray to God and ask him for the courage to go and apologize
to the person. The other person will
probably be surprised, and maybe resentful; however, with God’s power, they
will forgive you. If they don’t’ forgive
you; then with humility, wish them well, and tell them that if they change
their minds you would love to meet with them.
If it is appropriate, then offer to repay them for the suffering that
you have caused.
Remember, you are there to apologize – not to justify yourself.
Once you start to explain too much, then you run the risk of starting
trouble. Remember Proverbs
The strongest words on guilt are said moments before Jesus’
death. Jesus had been beaten,
terrorized, nailed to a cross; and left to die.
His precious blood was dropping from his hands and feet. He was dehydrating, and having great
difficulty breathing. People were
standing around him and laughing, and his mother was standing there in
agony. On top of this all but one of his
disciples had abandoned him. The
emotional turmoil was worse. He had the
sins of all humans, past present and future on his shoulders. He was Jesus; at this moment he could kill
all of these people. He didn’t. He said “Father [God] forgive them; for they
don’t know what they are doing” (Luke
Trust God with all your guilt. If you’re really sorry; God knows it; he
forgives you.
Our wish is that God will bless you.