FEELINGS OF GUILT – PART 1

Have you ever had a guilty feeling about something? Perhaps you did something wrong and you felt guilty about it. Perhaps you have magnified the feeling of guilt beyond the [wrongness] of the act that precipitated the guilty feeling. Or perhaps you feel justly guilty for a sin and you don’t know what to do about it. The best way to relieve justifiable guilt is to confess the sin to YHVH and ask Him to forgive you. If the sin is against another person, confess the sin to that person and ask that person to forgive you. Forgiveness is the only cleansing agent that can remove both guilt and a guilty feeling about a sin.

THE SOURCE OF GUILT

WHAT MAKES US FEEL GUILTY?

GUILT COMES FROM GIVING IN TO TEMPTATION.

The woman was convinced. The fruit looked so fresh and delicious and it would make her so wise! So, she ate some of the fruit. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her. Then he ate it, too. At that moment, their eyes were opened and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So, they strung fig leaves together around their hips to cover themselves. -- Genesis 3:6-7. Notice what Eve did: She looked, she took, she ate and she gave. The battle is often lost at the first look. Temptation often begins by simply seeing something you want. Are you struggling with temptation because you have not learned that looking is the first step toward sin? You would win over temptation more often if you followed Paul’s advice to run from those things that produce evil thoughts -- 2 Timothy 2:22.

INVOLVING OTHERS IN SIN COMPOUNDS GUILT.

One of the realities of sin is that its effects spread. After Eve sinned, she involved Adam in her wrongdoing. When we do something wrong, often we try to relieve our guilt by involving someone else. Like toxic waste spilled in a river, sin swiftly spreads. Recognize and confess your sin to YHVH before you are tempted to pollute those around you.

SIN MAKES US FEEL GUILTY.

After sinning, Adam and Eve felt guilt and embarrassment over their nakedness. Their guilty feelings made them try to hide from YHVH. A guilty conscience is a warning signal YHVH placed inside you that goes off when you have done wrong. The worst step you could take is to eliminate the guilty feelings without eliminating the cause. That would be like using a painkiller but not treating the disease. Be glad those guilty feelings are there. They make you aware of your sin so you can ask YHVH’s forgiveness and then correct your wrongdoing.

THE ABSENCE OF GUILTY FEELINGS DOES NOT MEAN A LACK OF GUILT.

Fearing for their lives, the desperate sailors shouted to their gods for help and threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship. And all this time Jonah was sound asleep down in the hold. -- Jonah 1:5. While the storm raged, Jonah was sound asleep below deck. Even as he ran from YHVH, Jonah’s actions apparently didn’t bother his conscience. But the absence of guilty feelings isn’t always a barometer of whether we are doing right. Because we can deny reality, we cannot measure obedience by our feelings. Instead, we must compare what we do with YHVH’s standards for living.

GUILT COMES FROM FAILING TO DO WHAT YHVH EXPECTS.

You are so proud of knowing the Law, but you dishonour YHVH by breaking it. -- Romans 2:23. Paul continues to argue that all stand guilty before YHVH. After describing the fate of the unbelieving, pagan gentiles, he moves to that of the religiously privileged. Despite their knowledge of YHVH’s Will, they are guilty because they too have refused to live by their beliefs. Those of us who have grown up in faith believing families are the religiously privileged of today. Paul’s condemnation applies to us if we do not live up to what we know.