As I sat at my desk this morning, contemplating this topic of guilt, which plagues so many (all of us at one time or another), I thought about the cure for guilt. The cure for guilt is the cross. Without the cross, you and I would be stuck with our guilt. There is no other remedy. But, like the cough medicine that remains in the cabinet while we hack away, God's remedy for our guilt often remains with the cap still tightly screwed on the bottle.
First, we need to analyze our guilt to determine its source. Are you feeling the godly conviction of sin, —or twisted emotions from enemies within?
The remedy is the same. Yet, the voice of one, reassures us with the hope of forgiveness, drawing our focus to our loving, forgiving Lord Jesus; the other condemns and draws our focus inward to our failing, sin prone selves. How do you determine whether you are feeling godly conviction or enemy/self condemnation? Look at who you are drawn to look at - Jesus' accomplishments on the cross for you or your failure.
Then, how do you unscrew the cap of the bottle of God's forgiveness? Here are 3 steps:
1 and 2. Acknowledge and confess your sin.
Psalm 32:5 I acknowledged my sin to You,And my iniquity I have not hidden.I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord," And You forgave the iniquity of my sin.
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
3. Repent
Acts 3:19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
In acknowledging, confessing, and repenting we are admitting our sin, agreeing with God that it is wrong and determining (in His strength and your choices) to turn from that sin. There is no short cut. If you leave one out, you will either remain in your guilt or remain in your sin.
Notice the results of our obedience to our part - God's sure forgiveness, God's sure cleansing from ALL unrighteousness and times of refreshing in the presence of the Lord.
When we continue to "hack" away, letting the guilt of our sin get the best of us, we are missing out on the cure Jesus died to provide for us. Confession and repentance restore our relationship with the Lord so that we no longer dread being in His presence for fear of retribution, but we long for His presence because that is the place of refreshment. And, oh how you and I need to be refreshed by Him.
As we come to the close of 2012, we tend to evaluate our lives or at least the previous year. Failures will certainly pop up for each of us. What place will they have in 2013 for you?
I hope my failures will find me running more and more quickly to Him for cleansing. I know I will fail - life is about choices and so often I choose wrongly. BUT GOD is so faithful to grant me that little "nudge" (or cough!) to let me know that I have missed the mark and need His cleansing. The best thing about this walk with Him is learning to hear His voice and respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. As I do, I find the failures are fewer, and the confessing and repenting sooner when I do fail.
ReplyDeleteThank You, Father, for the gift of the Holy Spirit. He always reminds me to "uncap that bottle and cure my cough!"
I fail. Yet through my failures He is faithful to teach me, to humble me, and to cover me with His grace. I suppose my failures will lead me to a place of gratitude...grateful that our Lord is so indescribably powerful and merciful that He desires and is able to use even my failures for my good, when I look to Him to teach me through them.
ReplyDeleteThank you to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or imagine according to His power that works in us!
I have experienced both repentance that refreshes the heart, and guilt held on to that plagues the heart. I am so thankful for the Lord's grace, mercy and forgiveness. I have failed...much! Over and over. Yet, in all I have brought before the Lord, he has shown Himself merciful and faithful in His forgiveness. I am not there yet, I will continue to fail in this coming year but because I know what it is like to be rid of guilt and shame and enjoy sweet fellowship with the Lord, I am going to choose to keep coming to Him with my failures and let Him heal and restore me. "For You Lord are GOOD and READY to forgive and ABUNDANT in mercy to All those who call upon You." Psalm 86:5
ReplyDeletesally
Guilt – such deceiving thing. It must be sifted through. We have to search our hearts daily asking God to show us which kind of guilt we are struggling with, basically because we continue to fail. Remember the old fashioned flour sifters – all the pure flour would go into the bowl and the unprocessed balls would stay in the top of the sifter. As I sift through this guilt thing, I have learned to recognize where the guilt is coming from. Satan will point to my character flaws. He rolls them up in little flour balls and throws them at me. He say I am bad but the Lord points to sin it’s self showing me how the sin keeps us apart. He uses guilt to draw me to Him for forgiveness. The more I practice this “guilt recognition muscle” the more restful it is for me. I can rest in the assurance that my sifting is drawing me closer to the Lord and I don’t have to put up with satan’s character defamation flour balls. All he is really doing is trying to get me to doubt God …. and I wont! My prayer for 2013 is that the Good Lord will continue to show His Strength in my soul and I would continue to depend on His sifting alone!
ReplyDeletesharon
Guilt is an interesting thing, really a God-given thing for without guilt we would not know our need for a Savior. We feel guilty because we are. My sisters talked about our failings, because we live in these bodies. We fail so often and it breaks our heart because we love Him so. When we sin, we feel guilt. That's good, it leads us to God. The problem of course is after we've confessed and repented and we continue to feel guilty. We are consumed with our failings and how could I. That's our enemy and also our pride. So, the only thing to do is go to God again with these feelings. Our God is so gentle with us and so merciful and so kind. He lovingly holds us and wipes our tears and comforts our hearts, even sings over us, and sometimes He shows us there may be something else we need to do. I'm convinced that the only place we are to take our guilt is to God. That's what it's for to lead us to God, to return us to God, to get us into His presence. Let guilt have it's correct way and lead us to God, the rest is His business.
ReplyDelete