Guilt sneaks in all the time. "I feel guilty for not calling her back." "I feel guilty for not going to her party." "I feel guilty for having clean running water when Veronica doesn't have that." "I feel guilty for judging her." Guilt for:
-falling short
-not fulfilling expectations of others
-past sins
-having too much
-and everything else under the sun
It is a full time job, sorting through all the guilt that slips in and rides on your shoulders all day long. But today and every day from now on, I am burying it. Carrying guilt does no one any good. I often brood in my own lack and insufficiencies and sin and Jesus already died for all of that. Repentance and forgiveness are glorious things. Guilt will kill you. When we wallow in guilt and take our own sins and fret over them, we are not living the resurrected life. Paul says it way better than me in Galatians Chapter 2.
16 yet we know that a person is not justified[b] by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness[c] were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
Even my noble guilt of feeling unworthy to be born in America, does not do Veronica nor me one bit of good. Feeling guilty for sin "nullifies the grace of God." So today I'm taking Guilt to the wonderful cross all day long and nailing it there. It is no longer mine. Or yours. So join me.
My pastor has the saying, Guilt is a verdict, not a feeling. We're all guilty; but God's grace means the guilty go free. That's why we love HIm so much, like the "sinful woman" who anointed Him :)
ReplyDeletebeautifully said Karen. it really clarifies guilt and brings it to light. it is not even intended for us to "emote". thank you.
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