All of us are guilty of sinning, but the guilt we own is purely temporal. That is, we may say that, yes, we are guilty of doing a certain behavior which violates God's law. Yet, Christ died for every one of any given Christian's sins -- Christ took that guilt, died for it and thus paid the price. His death has eliminated our guilt, how dare you or anyone else point fingers at one of his beloved children!
If you belong to Christ, you have no standing, justification or right to cling to your guilt.
God himself, through Christ's work on the cross, has forgiven our sins and thus will never demand we pay for them ourselves. Nor will God ask Christ to die for us again! He is done with our sin -- you must be also! To hang onto your guilt is to say that Christ's death may have accomplished forgiveness for others, but for yourself something more than his death and resurrection is needed. That's egregious on a number of counts.
What a slap in God's face it is to NOT be satisfied with Christ's work on the cross! God sent his perfect, sinless son to die in our stead; would we now dare to claim: Not enough! Could there be a bigger offense to God than our claim to pay our own freight?
God means for us to be free. When we arrogantly, yes arrogantly, insist on paying our own debt, we enslave ourselves to a lifetime of work. Work is the engine that drives us to still more work. Ultimately, this leads to self-righteousness and entitlement, both of which seize our freedom and drag it away in chains. This cycle begins when we accept guilt.
Guilt is a pointed finger. It screams judgment and shame and demands recompense. It has no place in a Christian's life.
Conviction is what Christians rely upon to reveal sin. Conviction is an upturned palm with four fingers beckoning us to return to the one who heals. It is personal, truthful and firm, yet gracious and loving. Conviction invites us into relationship with the same God who eliminated our guilt. It's a promise of healing and growth and it is void of judgment.
Guilt has no place in a Christian's life -- reject it with every fiber of your being!
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