Lets talk about sin, condemnation, and a guilty conscience. I do not think that some of us know how guilt affects us and how it can keep us from our best. And I also think that many of us hold onto guilt for things that we have done and have a underlying feeling that God is mad at us. I struggled with this, and still have times that I have that thought of, God is mad at me. But it is the following truth that I use to cover up the lie that the enemy puts in my mind.

First of all, yes, we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. The whole world is guilty of sin. And before Jesus, there was no hope for forgiveness. There was no way to take the condemnation and the guilt from us. That guilt caused Adam and Eve to hide from God because of their guilt of sin. King David spoke of how miserable He was because of the guilt that He had for all that He had done. And Judas committed suicide because of the guilt that He felt from His sin. So we can see how guilt can affect us in major ways.

But there is now a way that we can be forgiven and have no need to carry the guilt. We have someone that carried our guilt for us and cleansed our conscience. God knew what the guilt was doing to us so He made the way for him to be able to have mercy on us and for our sins to be forgiven. when we are struggling with guilt we have to remember that God is greater than our guilt. He sent Jesus to pay the price for our wrongdoing so that we can be in right standing with himself. He knew that if we were held down with guilt and condemnation that we could not have the life that He wants us to have. He knew that we could never step into our destiny if we had to carry our own guilt. So He made Jesus who never sinned, to be our sin, so that we could be His righteousness. He traded places with us. (If you want more scriptures on guilt I found this site to be helpful.) We serve such a merciful God, full of grace and unfailing love.

Jesus was sent to save us and not to judge or condemn us. He came so that we can exit the darkness and walk in the light, having a much better life. He came so that we did not have to be weighed down with condemnation and guilt, holding us back from being our best. The blood of Jesus took care of the punishment for our wrongdoing. And all that we are asked to do in return is to believe it is so.

Galatians 3:27 says, when you were baptized you have put on Christ. We were clothed in Christ. Our outfit is Jesus. We put on Jesus. We are covered with Jesus. We are covered with all that Jesus is. And since we are covered with him God sees Jesus when He looks at us. He sees all that Jesus is and not all that we are not. Because of Jesus we are seen as perfect in His eyes. Because Jesus was able to be the perfect person that God had intended for all of us to be, God sees us as perfect too. He sees the heart which is where our true identity resides. Because of Jesus, and our belief in him, we no longer have to wonder what God sees when he looks at us. We do not have to wonder if He sees all of our sins, bad attitudes, faults, failures, mistakes, fall backs, fall offs, and everything else that we are not. We can rest in the fact that we are seen as Jesus. We can come boldly to God’s throne not because of anything that we have done but because of what Jesus did for us.

Romans 8:1 says, “there is now no condemnation in those that are in Christ Jesus.” Acts 10:15 says “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.” John 3:17 says, “For God did not send His son into the world to condemn it, but that the world through him, might be saved.” 1 John 1:19 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all righteousness.” Hebrews 8:12 says, ” “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins, and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” These are just a couple of scriptures to show you that because of Jesus you are NOT a shameful sinner that God is mad at and shakes his head every time he looks at you. You have no need to walk around thinking that you are not good enough, not obedient enough, not smart enough, not enough in what ever area that you feel not good enough in. You are enough because Jesus did it all for you and me.

Guilt effects many areas of our life, not just our spiritual part. It can cause a number of physical health problems. Guilt will cause people to become stressed, have anxiety, depression, lack of sleep, stomach problems, high blood pressure, heart problems, weight gain or loss, and many other things. It causes relationship issues. It can cause a person to think that they are such a bad person that they are getting what they deserve or that they do not deserve any better than where they are at in life at the moment. It can cause a person to be self destructive. And in extreme cases it can cause someone to take their own life because of how heavy the guilt is.

A person filled with guilt will often blame others for their actions. They will point fingers. Adam pointed fingers to eve when He told God about eating the apple. Because they feel guilty, but do not want to admit it, they will blame someone else for their actions. It keeps them from having to look at themselves and face their wrongs.

But thank God that we have someone who has made it possible for us to be free from guilt and shame. We have someone who knows and understands the flaws and hardships of being human. We have someone who made the sacrifice for our wrongdoings and we do not have to be punished. And since God is not punishing us why do we feel the need to punish ourselves. If you have done what you needed to do to correct your wrong, if it is a guilt from something that you have done to someone, then you have done what you needed to and could do. You can not make someone except your apology. But You have been forgiven by God and Jesus took your guilt, so receive that freedom from guilt and move on. Remember we all fall short. No one is perfect. We all mess up from time to time. We can never be perfect. All we can do is try our best and believe that Jesus has made our imperfections perfect so that we can move on, always growing in God’s timing.