Guilt is a sense of responsibility concerning something negative that has befallen others or yourself. It is a feeling of regret over some action taken or not taken. Guilt is a terrible feeling to bear. We are not built for guilt, and it damages our souls and personalities - even our health. Guilt steals our peace and joy. It can become a prison without a key.
Guilt leaves us with a sense of obligation to make up in some way for the wrong we did or imagine we did. The burden of guilt coupled with a desire to pay for our crimes is a miserable life indeed.
There was a woman who was a real warrior for the Lord. She taught Sunday school, visited women in the local prison on Friday nights, volunteered to clean the church sanctuary on Saturdays, and tithed regularly. She raised two daughters who became committed Christians and led hundreds of people to the Lord over her lifetime. When she died, grown men came to her funeral and cried. They told her daughters how their mother had given their wives food and money when they themselves had squandered their paybacks.
Only her daughters knew that their mother was one of the unhappiest women in the world. Despite her strong faith, she had committed sins in her youth that haunted her throughout her life. While God had forgiven her, she couldn’t forgive herself.
She was stuck in condemnation.
I think stories like this one are some of the saddest in the world. I am sure the woman in the story told others of the love and mercy of God, yet she never truly received it for herself. Perhaps she never understood that she was much more than what she felt. She felt guilty, and so she assumed she was guilty and let it steal her joy. This story is repeated in multiplied millions of lives. We can live by the truth in God’s Word and not the way we feel.
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