Guilty! - Part 3

Friday, October 7, 2022

When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long.  Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me.  My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat.  Psalm 32:3-4

If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.   1 John 1:9 ^(NRSV)

So far in this series, in part 1, we’ve looked at how Reuben and his 10 brothers were consumed with guilt over selling their youngest brother into slavery, and Peter’s well-published guilt over denying the Christ he said he’d die for.  Added to those were the contrast of the sociopathic thief on the cross next to Jesus who mocked, and the remorseful penitent who asked Jesus to remember him when Jesus entered His kingdom.  We said with Isaiah that nobody is righteous; we have all fallen short with our sins:  We feel guilty because we ARE guilty.

In part 2 we looked at how false it is to develop our ways of dealing with guilt –  denial, or blaming others for what was (clearly) our choice.  The little boy in his white Sunday suit, who was told to stay clean, chased the family pet beagle, Buster, with a can of green paint, and wound-up caught, busted…paintbrush in hand.  Peter was caught in his betrayal.  King David was nailed by a prophet’s bold accusation.  Guilt consumes us from the inside-out, and there’s no such thing as a secret sin!  There’s no wondering about where the old saying comes from:  No peace for the wicked.   

Friend, if you’re eaten-up with guilt over something and have not confessed it to God, you will never feel forgiven because you aren’t forgiven!

So…what to do?

Here are a few simple, but vital steps to take

1.  Make certain you confess your sin

Don’t rationalize (hide the evidence or shift blame)…God already knows you’re a sinner… just confess, admit it to Him and be forgiven.

2.  Be humble – learn from past mistakes

You cannot do anything about what happened yesterday, but God rejoices in your confession, and loves to forgive and rebuild you!

3.  Pray for growth to use your past for kingdom good

Stand ready to help others in the areas you’ve been blessed by forgiveness.

4.  Spend time thanking God for his blessings

This is why we have the Lord’s table…come, ye forgiven, and beloved sinners...and rejoice!  

For You Today

Guilt was never God’s intended inner profile for His human children.  That’s why He came to us in a manger, innocent, and ready to die for us, so we can be forgiven, cleansed, washed whiter than snow…and restored to fellowship with our Creator.  Don’t miss THAT!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

Old Brooms & Common Sense   and   Black Ice

[1] Images:  via Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

Guilty! - Part 2

Thursday, October 6, 2022

When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long.  Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me.  My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat.  Psalm 32:3-4

Dealing with understanding the issues we have with guilt is a hard, but necessary medicine.  We have all sorts of techniques for getting rid of guilt, but, underneath, we still feel guilty.  Frankly, we hardly need to have someone tell us we did wrong; we are hardwired with free will, and that is enough to help us understand the conundrum of needing forgiveness, but refusing to admit we need forgiveness.  We don’t feel forgiven because we aren’t!

When a person simply tries to get rid of guilt for the sake of trying to feel better,  trying to hide the evidence, or shift the blame, we never accomplish what we’re after.  

A little boy was dressed by his Mom in his best Sunday suit – white!  She told him to go outside and wait by the car; she’d be out in 10 minutes….and don’t get dirty!  Thirty seconds later he’d found a bucket of dark green paint and was chasing after Buster the family beagle.  Paint sloshed everywhere, but he just couldn’t catch up with Buster.  As Buster ran for the safety of the front porch, the little guy followed in hot pursuit, just as the front door swung-open wide.  As the now green-paint-covered white suit and green-haired little boy screeched to a halt, he looked up to see his angry Mom staring down at him.  Bucket in one hand, brush in the other, and beagle cowering in the porch corner, the little guy stammered, I didn’t paint Buster!

Until we deal with the source of our guilt (sin) we can never feel forgiven, because we aren’t.  It’s like an elephant in the room that nobody wants to acknowledge.  Sin stands between us and God like a dark green paint stain. 

This was Peter’s agony.  In the Gospel accounts it tells us that when Jesus’ trial ended, they took him from Pilate’s house.  Peter was hiding in the courtyard, watching from a distance.  His and Jesus’ eyes locked and Peter knew he’d denied Christ.  He went out and wept bitterly.[1]  After the resurrection ^{John 21} it is recorded that Jesus had a conversation with Peter that searched deep into Peter’s soul.  It was a simple conversation, but forced the fisherman to deal with his guilt.

In King David’s case it took the prophet Samuel looking the king square in the eyes, calling him a murdering adulterer.  Until David faced the truth about his own behavior and confessed his sin^(Ps32:5) he was never going to be free.

For You Today

When we feel guilty we often default to using excuses for why we did what we did, none of which changes what God has said about our sin.  Sin will always be dealt-with!  And it will always be on God’s terms, never our excuses or denial.  Like the “heroes” King David, Peter, and others we read about in Scripture, there is never peace in our minds or hearts, when we live in unforgiveness.

Tomorrow we’ll wrap-up where to go with our excuses, rationalizations, and denial…how guilt doesn’t have to eat us alive from the inside, like a dark green paint splash on a Sunday suit.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

Waiting in Pain   and   Better Than Guilt   

[1] Images:  via Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

---

[1] Mark 14:72