Sometimes it works for our good and other times for the bad. It is a legal term, both in our judicial system and in God’s economy. Every human has dealt with it. Psychologist write about how powerful it is as a motivator. Doctors’ report that left unresolved it is the number one cause of mental illness and suicide. You can observe it employed every day in commercials especially by charities raising funds. Preachers incorporate both the good and bad elements it in sermons. It helps people become Christians, but then it can imprison and torment them. It is a powerful weapon of Satan. Ok, enough guessing, it is the term guilt. Occasionally, the Holy Spirit will lead me to a seemingly simply term such as guilt and I think this will be an easy SW. Most of the time however, the Lord has led me there because I have assumed it was simple. I ended up amazed this week with the depth and complexity of guilt. I can only deal with two aspects—true guilt and false guilt with a focus on the false.
God created man with the emotion of guilt. It is the feeling of sorrow the Holy Spirit activates in us when we sin, do something wrong, or fail to measure up to God’s standard. The Bible calls this conviction and it communicates to us, “you have sinned, come to me, and I will forgive you.” Without the feeling of true guilt, we would not know we had sinned. And He [Holy Spirit], when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment (Joh 16:8). If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins (1 Joh 1:9) and He removes our guilt so the feeling of guilt is gone.
The other aspect of guilt can begin immediately after our forgiveness and the removal of true guilt. Satan initiates his work of condemnation bringing false guilt. Conviction calls us to come to Christ. Condemnation comes from Satan and tells us to run and hide from God. It says we must stay away from God because we failed. Even if we have repented, God still doesn’t want to be near us. As a result, this hinders us from renewing our relationship with God. For years, I believed I must self-impose additional punishment on myself before forgiveness was complete. This kind of false guilt, called residual guilt, can linger after we repent and God has forgiven us. The devil cast doubt by bringing false guilt. He never forgets and will remind us years later if we allow it.
By far the most detrimental false guilt is imaginary guilt that comes from thinking you have done something wrong but haven’t or taking responsibility for actions, events, and situations that weren’t your fault. Women who were raped and abused wives tend to feel guilt believing it was their fault. Many children feel guilty when their parents’ divorce. They believe it was their fault. Those in legalistic churches often struggle with false guilt for breaking a legalistic or a traditional rule even though it’s not God’s law. This kind of guilt condemns us and makes us fearful to approach God for help. Jesus did not die for imaginary sins. For years, I carried around guilt for sins, for which I had repented and received forgiveness from God. I cultivated it by dwelling on how I’d messed up and this particular imaginary sin disqualified me from receiving God’s anointing and blessings.
One night I was preaching a revival service. My subject was the scapegoat (Lev 10). On the Day of Atonement, the priest offered two goats. On the first goat, the people confessed their sins and then the High Priest killed it and offered it to the Lord. The second goat called the scapegoat was placed before the people who were now forgiven of their sins by the first goat. Again, the people confessed their sins a second time. Symbolically they were placing the guilt of their sins on the scapegoat. A priest led the scapegoat, with the guilt of the people’s sins, far into the wilderness and left it there. As I preached, the Holy Spirit showed me the fulfillment of this in Christ. He not only died for my sins but also took my guilt into the wilderness of death. Right in the middle of my sermon, I had my own revival. Not only had He forgiven my sin, He had taken away the guilt. I’ve never struggled with false guilt again.
Several issues exacerbate false guilt. Christians can know God has forgiven them but are unable to forgive themselves. Forgiving ‘me’ is often the hardest part of ridding ourselves of guilt. Paul preached the Gospel so that people may receive forgiveness of sins (Acts 26:18). The word for receive is also translated take. It implies that we receive forgiveness by taking it. When we don’t take and embrace the fullness of forgiveness and continue feeling false guilt we dishonor Christ by failing to believe He did enough or His word is true.
Believers can carry around false guilt for their entire life being rob of the peace and fellowship with the Holy Spirit. They exist but are imprisoned and tormented when they could be free and full of joy. Are you experiencing guilt and feeling condemned? Jesus not only forgives, He carried away your guilt in the wilderness of His death.
Sustaining Word for the Week: Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1).