Saulo was 16 when he drove the getaway car for a robbery that ended in murder. Now 32, Saulo says, “I remember sitting in the county jail, and it really sunk in: ‘Wow, I’m not going home,’ and [I] realized what I did. I didn’t want to live. I couldn’t believe what I did.”
Today, Saulo leads the chapel’s praise band in prison and is studying to be a minister. He doesn’t think he deserves parole, saying, “We did horrible things. . . . We deprived people of loved ones, of ever seeing them again.” Whether or not Saulo ever again experiences his freedom as a citizen, he has learned to accept the freedom of forgiveness in Jesus.
I haven’t committed murder, but I know the crushing guilt that comes from doing evil. Like Saulo, I can’t believe what I did, and I wonder, How could God ever forgive me? When I bury myself under mounds of remorse, I’ve learned that the first step to digging out is to get over myself. Do I really think that my sin is stronger than God’s grace? Do I suppose that my sin has a higher value than the death of God’s Son?
The second thing I do is focus all my attention on Jesus. He said that “as Moses lifted up the bronze snake . . . so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life” (John 3:14-15). The snake-bitten Israelites were healed as long as they looked at the snake (Numbers 21:8-9). They simply had to look. Some may have looked for selfish reasons, some may have had their doubts, but all who looked were healed.
Are you groaning under a load of guilt? Repent and then forget about yourself. Fix your eyes on Jesus.
NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Jeremiah 1:1-9
More:
Read Hebrews 12:1-13 to learn the secret in winning your fight against sin.
Next:
Why is focusing on yourself the fastest way to lose your assurance that you’re saved? How might ongoing despair over your sin be a form of pride?
roxanne robbins on May 24, 2013 at 6:43 am
Thanks for this post, Mike!
…Grateful for the forgiveness and healing God extends when we confess our sins to Him and repent.
mike wittmer on May 24, 2013 at 8:50 am
I know this sounds like it’s easy, but sometimes this is so hard to do. I think it’s because we don’t want to get over ourselves, we want to achieve security and significance on our own. Bottom line is we have to die to ourselves, every day.
tom felten on May 24, 2013 at 9:05 am
Good thoughts, Mike. I’m reminded of what David wrote: “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). These words resonate—I’ve felt similar things at time as I’ve wrestled with guilt. But praise God that He has provided the way for us to have a clean heart and to be purified in His sight (Psalm 51:10; 1 John 1:9).
winn collier on May 28, 2013 at 5:06 pm
that word, of getting over ourselves, is the clincher for many of us, I think. Guilt can be a way of holding on to the delusion that we can remedy ourselves, find some way out other than grace. I find it to be a dead-end street.
daisymarygoldr on May 29, 2013 at 3:24 pm
Like King David, Saulo is a good example of genuine conversion evidenced in how to face the consequences of our sins with grace. This type of response to guilt is very effective in drawing others to Jesus Christ. A person who went astray can alert others of potential pitfalls that exist along the wrong road. There is no room for remorse when we return to God the Father. All that matters is we are back on track.
Some spend their whole lives wringing their hands in regret wishing they could go back and correct the mistake and do it right all over again. This is next to impossible and will not happen. What is done cannot be undone. God Himself did regret for creating man but did not go back in time to create another new pair of humans. We need to pick ourselves up and proceed to correctly complete what we had originally started to do.
Yes, there is the guilt of disobedience for having done the very thing God has clearly told us not to do. This guilt should lead us to do the right thing and avoid the wrong, next time we face the same temptation again. Guilt keeps me humble and grounded in the truth—that there is nothing good in me. It also reminds me that God does not punish me for all my sins (Psalms 103:10).
To simply “look” will do nothing for you. You are only fooling yourself when you forget what you look like and not do anything about it. In Numbers 21, the people murmured and complained against God and His servant Moses. So the Lord sent poisonous snakes to bite them and many died. Then they came to Moses and cried out, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take away the snakes.” So Moses prayed for the people and erected the bronze snake so they could look at it and be healed.
James instructs Christians to confess your sins and pray for each other so that you may be healed (James 5:16). This is not about confessing sinful practices or habitual sins or revealing the weak areas of our lives in which we struggle to our small group or accountability partner. People readily unload guilt to a priest in the confessional or use sites like this to heave it off the chest and then wonder why they are still being tormented by guilt.
Repentance to turn back and change from the evil we did includes changing our attitude and acts. After receiving the forgiveness of Jesus, Zacchaeus gave back four times what he stole from people. It requires humility to admit our faults and make amends with those who have been affected by our sin. While all sins need to be confessed before God, it is important to specifically acknowledge our wrong doings to the person we have wronged in order for God to heal and restore us to good health once again.