How Much Time do You Spend Feeling Guilty?!?

As women, I think that it can be pretty easy to fall into guilt because we tend to put a lot of pressure on ourselves to do it all, and do everything perfectly! When we feel that we don't measure up, it can often lead to an undue sense of guilt that lingers in our minds, weighing heavy on our hearts.

There are also times when we deliberately do something wrong, and we need to repent and ask the Lord, (and sometimes people) for forgiveness....But what happens when even after repenting and making the necessary changes, we still will feel a nagging guilt about something we have done!?

When this occurs we need to remind ourselves that guilt is not from the Lord, and that ultimately Jesus took the penalty for our sins. The bible calls Jesus our advocate, which means that when we do sin, He pleads our case before God, and we stand forgiven because of His sacrifice.

1 John 2:1 paints a beautiful picture of Jesus as our advocate. It says, "My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous." This means that the moment that we go to God with a repentant heart, He has already forgiven us because of Jesus! Our right standing with God, (or our righteousness) is something we receive the moment that we make Jesus our savior, not when we are good enough.

We will never deserve or perform our way to a right standing with God. Instead, we must receive the gift He is offering us by faith and believe that we are right before Him because of what Jesus did!

Every time we have a condemning thought come against us, we need to choose to think about the fact that we are righteous because of Jesus. And if our hearts continue to condemn us, then we need to recognize where the guilt and shameful thoughts are coming from. The bible tells us that when we have accusing thoughts, they our enemy, the devil, who is also referred to as the accuser in Zechariah 3:1-2. When we recognize that he is accusing us, must make the choice to cast down those accusations, and replace those lies/thoughts with the truth of God's word. (2 Corinthians 10:5)

1 John 1:9 says that if we confess our sins to God, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. When we choose to think about the fact that we are forgiven and cleansed from all unrighteousness the moment we confess our sins, then we can go forth in freedom and peace worshiping Jesus for what He has done for us!

On a practical note, I think that we as women need to come to a place where we are more forgiving with ourselves. When we hold ourselves to a standard of perfection, we are bound to fail. What if we learned to have more grace with ourselves!? How much more at peace would our lives be if we were as quick to forgive ourselves as the Lord does? Let's learn to hold ourselves to a standard of grace instead of perfection...and look to the ONE who is perfect!

I remember when I started to get a revelation of this in my own life years ago. I realized that something needed to change when my guilt and shame were leading me away from Christ instead of drawing me closer to Him. I also noticed that I was caught in a vicious cycle where I would try to change my actions, and feel guilty when I didn't measure up. This cycle would always leave me feeling worn out and defeated, and eventually I would think to myself, why do I even try!?!

When I finally started to make the change in my thinking and change how I saw myself in light of God's word, I started to see myself through God's eyes. It was then that I started to believe that I was free and no longer bound in chains, which then came through in my actions.

Ultimately, making the choice to refuse to live in guilt will free us in more ways than we can imagine, but one of the most important ways is that it allows us to get our eyes off of ourselves, and onto our Savior. When we make this shift, we will go from trying to be good enough, to worshiping the one who sets us free from our sin.

Prayer: “Thank you Jesus for the free gift of righteousness. Lord, I pray that you would help me to view myself as you see me, which according to your Word is, the righteousness of God. When I am tempted to walk around in condemnation, help me to remember that even in the midst of my sins, you have made me right with you God. Thank you Jesus! In Jesus Name, Amen!”