BEYOND GUILT

 "FORGET THE FORMER THINGS, DO NOT DWELL ON THE PAST, FOR I AM DOING A NEW THING" ISAIAH 43 VS 18 - 19

Guilt according to the oxford dictionary, is feeling responsible or regretful for a perceived offence, real or imaginary, it can be said to be part of the grief reaction to an event that occurred in the past.

Personally, I believe that guilt is a weight that holds us down to the past and limits our ability to move forward in life. In your Christian journey, there might have been moments when your strength was weak or you used words that you shouldn’t use or you made a mistake that affected someone you care about negatively, regardless, mistakes and shortcomings are part of our lives’ journey and moving beyond the feeling of guilt is crucial to our personal development, because if guilt is not dealt with properly, it has the ability to keep one in a continuous phase of regret and it gives room to a poor state of mind which leads to the inability to progress positively out of those mistakes or shortcoming.

 Honestly, I had my reservation about this topic because I didn’t want to give the impression that I am encouraging the cycle of constantly engaging in sin, but there is a need for people to fully accept the gift of salvation that has been made available to them by the grace of God and not by their efforts. (See Eph 2 vs 8), when we ask God for the forgiveness of our sins, we have been forgiven (see Hebrew 8 vs 12), but you have the sole responsibility to let go of your guilt.

Am I saying it is alright to sin and backslide? No, I am not, as Christians we should strive to be more like Christ even in our daily lives. What I am trying to say is God hates sin, but he doesn’t hate the sinner, he hates every time we fall prey or become victims of the devil, the accuser of men, but he still loves the one being held captive. What I am saying in essence is, salvation has been made available to us because of the never-ending love of Christ but some of us are yet to understand and fully accept that they have been truly forgiven and they have to let go of the guilt hence, the walk around holding on to guilt of past mistakes.

 One of the greatest teachings in Christianity is about forgiveness and a lot of us forgive other people a lot but we forget to forgive ourselves, hence we walk around with the past guilt, and we give access to the devil to keep accusing us and robbing us of the gift of true salvation.

Scattered across scripture are men that fell short at some point but still lived lives that brought glory to God, one of such men is Peter. Peter is a beautiful reference to how God forgives our sins, but his story also shows how much forgiving ourselves is important. Some of us are just like Peter, your love for God in your heart is strong but at a point in time, you were weak. Unfortunately, further into the future you still see yourself as a failure and this in turn affects your relationship with God, gives room to fear, shame and sometimes leading you to doubt your salvation.

Unresolved guilt is a poison in the heart of men, and it is a system through which the enemy holds us down. Please forgive yourself, move past that sad event that you are undeniably responsible for and block out every way through which the lie of the devil can find expression in your life.

I pray that God speaks to all those that are heavy ladened with guilt and teaches us to forgive ourselves just like he has forgiven us.