Day 11

“Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith.” — 1 Timothy 1:19

Guilt was and continues to be regarded often in the field of psychology as damaging to 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 when something is wrong.

There is, however, false guilt. In the Book of Revelation, the devil is called ‘the accuser of the brethren’ because one of his works is to accuse and condemn. He is the peddler of false guilt, which we need to be delivered from, but there is also true guilt, which comes from the violation of the law of God.

Guilt is a work of the Holy Spirit in that it instils an awareness in us that we have distorted our consciences and if left unchecked, can lead to shipwrecking our faith. We start by taming our consciences and, in the process, destroy our sensitivity to guilt. When we sin, our conscience will respond, especially if we sin in an area for the first time, our conscience will scream at us and may even give us a sleepless night. If we commit the same sin a second time, the scream won’t be as loud, and after a third time, you might sleep okay.

After a fourth and fifth time, you begin to think nothing catastrophic has happened. A bus hasn’t ploughed me over yet and the sun’s still shining, so maybe God doesn’t mind at all. You can actually convince yourself into thinking it’s okay. There are all kinds of rationalizations people come up with. “God knows the terrible marriage I’m in so maybe He sent this new love into my life.” “God knows I can’t pay my mortgage, so He won’t mind if I doctor the books a little as long as I pay it back.”

Where it concerns sin, there are no rationalizations, compromises or exceptions that come from God or are acceptable to Him. Sin is sin and guilt is a gift from the Holy Spirit to let us know we are outside of the will of God. We can choose to ignore it and become desensitized, eventually shipwrecking our faith, or we can trust God in every situation to bring about His will His way.

Prayer: Dear Lord, guilt can be very disparaging, but when I view it in light of your wisdom, I see it as a blessing. Thank you for this built-in sense you gave me that lets me know I have acted outside your will and prompts me to seek your forgiveness and that of whoever else is concerned. The quicker I do that, the quicker I’m back in your will and much happier for it! Thank you, lord.

To reflect upon: How do I usually react to feelings of guilt? Do I harbour them for awhile, and find they’re mounting before I take action? When was the last time I made amends for the guilt I was feeling and how did it affect me?