“There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” (Romans 8:1) A doctor at a mental institution in Scotland made an astonishing observation. He claimed, “If my patients could be assured of forgiveness, half of them could go home tomorrow.” An enormous number of mental breakdowns are a result of guilt that has never been dealt with. Guilt was and continues to be regarded in the field of psychology as one of the most damaging factors in our emotional health, but in Scripture, guilt is depicted as a good thing. Part of the Holy Spirit’s ministry is to convict the world of guilt. It works in the same way pain does. It lets us know something is wrong. The psalmist David acknowledged the effect of guilt in his experience. He writes, “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer” (Psalm 32:3-4). Guilt is heavy! Left unchecked, it can infect every area of our lives. There are two ways of coping with guilt. One is to redefine it so as to reduce the personal responsibility. Many psychologists spend much of their time looking for external factors as the root cause. Having identified past experiences, their patients can then vent their feelings by blaming their upbringing, their environment, influences or circumstances that were beyond their control. Then having absolved themselves, they begin to feel better because they have now classified their guilt as “false”. This superficially helps them live more comfortably and, but it does not actually solve the problem. It merely relocates it. The other way is to face up to our guilt as a reality and accept responsibility. From a Christian standpoint, accepting responsibility for our guilt leads to confessing it and receiving forgiveness. It is this forgiveness that is the first consequence of repentance. From God’s standpoint, we are now regarded as “not guilty”. Our sin will never be recalled or used against us. This is a staggering claim, it might be easy to accept this as biblically and doctrinally correct, but how do we apply it practically? The moment we come to Christ in repentance, we are not only forgiven and cleansed, but our guilt is erased. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Forgiveness is a gift of grace from God. This is a truth of Scripture we must believe, for not to believe it is to undermine what Christ did on the cross. Lord Jesus, thank You for your incredible gift of grace that has forgiven me, cleansed me and declared me guilt free. Amen
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 05:58:09 +0000
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