This is a good question, but lets take it a step further. Do you feel guilty or have you ever felt guilty?
Just like most everyone, you have probably experienced this. Lets examine why this happens and some of its reasons.
There are three main reasons for feeling guilty:
You are doing something wrong.
You won't or can't let go of your past.
The Devil is using guilt to make you miserable. NEWS FLASH: HE IS REAL.
Lets address the first issue. I believe that God gave us a conscience to know when we are doing wrong. The Bible verses that back that up are in Hebrews as you can see below.
HEB 10:16 "This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds." 17 Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more."
Okay, now you figured out you are doing something wrong. What do you do about it? You quit doing whatever it is you are doing.
You are probably sitting there saying: "Yeah, right."
I know what you mean. Some things we know we are not suppose to do, but we do them anyway and then feel guilty about it afterwards. Or we hang on to things we have done and just can't seem to get over feeling guilty about them.
But there is hope. We serve a forgiving God. That is probably the best thing about our faith, we are promised that God will forgive us over and over. When the disciples asked how many times they where to forgive there brother, here is what Jesus said:
MT 18:22 Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven.
This doesn't literally mean we are to forgive 490 times, it means we are to forgive over and over. If we are suppose to do that, do you think that this only applies to us?
Let me give you some other scriptures to show what the Bible says about forgiveness.
PS 86:5 You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you.
RO 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
I believe we have established that we serve a forgiving God, but that does not give us a license to do what we want. We are suppose to do the best we can, but if we mess up, we need to know we are forgiven. In other words we do not need to feel guilty, we don't have to hang on to the past.
Here is how we qualify for this forgiveness: We qualify by believing in Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior.
JESUS PAID THE PRICE. We have to TRY to live for God, he does the rest.
HEB 10:19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
The above verses tell you that God will cleanse us from a guilty conscience.
This brings us to our third point, we believe this, we know this, but the Devil continues to try to keep us down, as you will see in the following verses, which are warnings to keep us on guard:
EPH 6:16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
1PE 5:8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
EPH 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
The devil tries to make us feel guilty by whispering in our ear or any other way he can make us feel guilty. If he can do that he will keep you down and make your life miserable.
You say: "So how the heck am I suppose to succeed?" Please read the next two scriptures.
This OT scripture still applies today:
JOS 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."
HEB 13:5 …because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."
So what is our conclusion?
God gave us our conscience. It tells us if we are doing right or wrong.
God is all forgiving. He wants us to do our best. To know the difference between God telling us to stop something and the Devil making us feel guilty, we have to know what God is asking. This way we can live without guilt. If we stay close to God we will know what he wants from us and we can be confident that we are listening to God and not the devil. God wants us to succeed.
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