Sometimes, I feel guilty when I have not done anything wrong.
The devil will make me feel guilty. The Holy Spirit convicts me. What is the difference? The Holy Spirit's purpose is to bring me back into fellowship with God, and Satan wants to destroy me. In Satan's plan, I can learn to live with guilt in my daily life. The shame will fade when I keep doing the sin long enough and ignore the responsibility.
My next step in accepting sin is to start wondering if, in the beginning, I had done anything wrong. Whatever sin I have committed then becomes OK in my view. If I need to see a psychiatrist, he can convince me that my behavior is acceptable or drug the undesirable behavior out of me and suppress my guilt. The Bible means this when God says he gives people over to their depravity.
It is a scary thought that I can convince myself wrong is right. When the Holy Spirit convicts me, I have to choose whether to follow this guidance or ignore it.
Romans 1: 28 "And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done."
There is no rest for the guilty, but I can rest in the Holy Spirit. Complete surrender involves giving my motivations and behaviors over to God—I must commit all of my heart, mind, and soul. It is easier said than done.
Sin is in the world and contaminates the purity that originally God had made. The world wants to avoid responsibility and negate God's guilt, which is a warning light in humanity. It has infiltrated the church, where congregants are taught to love themselves. Once that warning light can be ignored and eventually disconnected, wrong has become right, and the mind relishes the sin. The debased mind needs to be cleansed but doesn't care anymore.
We can find our way by following Paul's instruction to Timothy, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17, ESV). Instead of relying on our faulty thinking, we get our wisdom from the Bible to "be complete, equipped for every good work."
Pray for discernment as you read your Bible. Repent and pick up your cross daily. Thank God for guilt!
Comments