Pastor's Ponderings, October 3, 2016

Are You Feeling Guilty Today?

What are you feeling guilty about?  Dictionary.com says that it is the fact or state of having committed an offense, crime, violation, or wrong, especially against moral or penal law; culpability.  Also it is a feeling of responsibility or remorse for some offense, crime, wrong, etc., whether real or imagined.  It is sad to say that many are burdened with feelings of guilt that are imagined and that are a great hindrance in their lives. They would agree with the psalmist in the Bible that their guilt had overwhelmed their lives (Psalm 38:4).

What do we do when we are overwhelmed by guilt?  We may have offended someone who has passed on or is unavailable to forgive our transgressions.  We may not know how to make it right.  We must turn to God and ask His forgiveness (Psalm 32:5).  In the Bible when the prophet Isaiah had a vision of God, he recognized his sin and guilt before the Lord and the Lord used an angel to remove his sin and guilt (Isaiah 6:5-7).

Today, God does not want us to feel guilty for indiscretions.  He wants us to go to Him and He will direct us on what we should do.  We may have to admit our sins to those whom we have wronged, we may have to make restitution, but we will no longer have to labor under the heavy burden of guilt.  It is refreshing to know that we can sincerely approach our God who can cleanse us from our guilty conscience and forgive our sins.  Let us take advantage of His grace and cast all of our guilt upon Him.  

Psalm 38:4
New International Version (NIV)

4 My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear.

Psalm 32:5
New International Version (NIV)

5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.”

And you forgave the guilt of my sin.

Isaiah 6:5-7
New International Version (NIV)

5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.
7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.

Hebrews 10:22
New International Version (NIV)

22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.