How do we handle being guilty? I believe that God gave me this topic to write about this week because He wants us to understand His view of this critical concept.
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First of all, what is guilt? Dictionary.com explains that guilt occurs when we commit an offense, crime, violation, or wrong, especially against moral or penal law. Additionally, guilt is a feeling of responsibility or remorse for some offense, crime, wrong, etc., whether real or imagined.
So, in essence, we can be guilty and feel guilty. We will deal with both in this post, but let’s ensure we understand that this post is for everyone. The Bible tells us that we all make mistakes and sin, so we have all been and felt guilty. Only one lived on Earth without sin, and that is our Savior, Jesus Christ. God wants us to know what to do when we’re guilty as charged.
The Bible contains stories to help illustrate what God wants from us. We can use a familiar story of David and Bathsheba, which is found in 2 Samuel chapters 11 through 12, to demonstrate guilt. In this story, David wrongfully sleeps with Uriah’s wife, and she becomes pregnant. Uriah is a soldier fighting in battle, so David sends for him, hoping that he will spend time with his wife, but Uriah is too committed to the fight and doesn’t go home. Next, David resorts to sending Uriah into battle and placing him on the front line, where Uriah dies. After Uriah’s death, David marries Bathsheba, and the prophet Nathan visits David because what David did displeased God.
When the prophet visits, he tells David a story about a rich man who took a poor man’s only lamb. In hearing the story, David did not initially realize the prophet talked about him taking Uriah’s wife. When the prophet told David that he was the rich man in the story, David admitted that he was guilty of sin against God and repented.
The Wrong Way To Handle Being Guilty
Unfortunately, the enemy will try to convince us to deal with guilt wrongfully. The enemy does not want us to confess or repent. He wants to condemn us and prevent us from finding forgiveness, grace, or mercy. The enemy wants our guilt to separate us from God, but God wants to forgive us and help us do better. We must watch out for the three ways that the enemy wants us to deal with guilt wrongfully:
- by lying
- by letting someone else take the blame
- by excusing the wrongdoing
Don’t Deal With Being Guilty By Lying
As parents, when our children make mistakes, we watch how they handle guilt and realize that we all have an innate desire to deal with guilt incorrectly. Sometimes, our children choose to deal with wrongdoings by lying, but I think we have all been guilty of lying.
Even when we feel terrible about what we have done, we may hide behind a lie and deny our guilt rather than confess our wrongdoings. Similarly, sometimes we may admit our wrong, but we may lie about whether we knew it was wrong.
Don’t Deal With Being Guilty By Letting Someone Else Take The Blame
Sometimes, we may do something wrong and allow someone else to take the blame. For example, we wrongfully do this if we break something accidentally but walk away only to let the next person deal with it. We avoid confessing our actions and unfairly try to cover up our wrongdoing, hoping that no one sees our error, but we must know that God sees all.
Don’t Deal With Being Guilty By Excusing Actions.
Similar to lying, sometimes, we wrongfully deal with guilt by excusing our actions. For example, we may condone taking copy paper or supplies at our job by saying that no one will miss it since there is so much. Worse yet, we justify the wrongdoing by explaining the boss does not pay us enough anyway.
In our relationships, we may repay a wrong with a wrong and justify that the other person had it coming. Additionally, rather than confess that we have hurt someone else, we may excuse our actions by telling the other person they are just too sensitive. We must be careful when justifying our actions rather than admitting a mistake or wrong choice.
Repent and Deal with Being Guilty God’s Way
To David, God sent the prophet Nathan to convict him by bringing the mistake to his attention. Feelings of guilt or conviction help us to become aware of our mistakes. These feelings are not to hurt us but to alert us that we must rectify our wrongdoing. It’s not God’s purpose to condemn us; he desires to take away our sins, to keep us from sin, and to save us through Jesus Christ. When we realize that we have done something wrong, we should be quick to ask for forgiveness and repent as David did.
The first thing we must do to deal with guilt in God’s way is to confess that sometimes we make mistakes. Our Heavenly Father loves us, and he will allow us to be convicted of our sins so that we can repent. He wants to forgive us, but we must be willing to admit and confess our faults. If we could live this life without making mistakes, we would not need a Savior. God knows we can’t live this life correctly without sin, so He sent Jesus. We must trust and allow Him to help us.
Christians do not have to live this life trying to convince others that we are innocent. We must live this life forgiven. We strive to do the right thing but must be humble enough to be convicted and corrected when mistakes occur. When we feel convicted of wrongdoing, we need to activate our faith and believe through confession, repentance, and forgiveness that the blood of Jesus washes us clean and helps us do better.
A Prayer To Help Us Deal With Guilt God’s Way
Sometimes, our errors have consequences, but God is faithful to forgive and restore those who repent. The first child born to David and Bathsheba died, but God was faithful in allowing David to have another son, Solomon, who was blessed to be the wisest king ever to live. No matter what we have done, God promises that nothing can separate us from His love. His forgiveness and help await all those who ask. Let’s pray to ask God to help us deal with guilt His way.
“No matter what we have done, God promises that nothing can separate us from his love. His forgiveness and help await all those who ask.”
Thanks Krystal for this beautiful and timely reminder. The simplest acts are often the most rewarding.
Amen! You know doing everything God’s way is just better, always! Be blessed.