For Game: Guilt, the Destroyer of Souls.
Submitted by Chris on November 15 1999 at 19:32:48
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Hi Game, "The righteousness of God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that comes by Christ Jesus." Romans 3: 22-24 I'm sorry I took so long to reply to your statement, but I got a little busy just lately and I wanted to treat this with as much knowlege as I could get. Sometimes I have to do some research because I know what I believe in my heart, but putting it into words can be difficult for me. And your statement is very deep and deserves to be addressed with my whole heart and mind. It is also something that I have been interested infor some time. I think one of the very worst problems we as Christians face is guilt. Not the true guilt, or shame, that leads us to remorse, confession, repentance and ultimately freedom through forgiveness, but the guilt that the devil, (satan, the evil one..etc. take your pick.) piles up on us whenever we sin or he just wants to drive us down. This is very unhealthy guilt that can lead us to self-condemnation, feelings of rejection, depression, anxiety, spiritual loss of intimacy with God, drug and alcohol addictions, etc. The list is probably endless. It is a weapon that the enemy uses to "blackmail" us, to try to make us believe all is hopeless. When I recieved salvation as a young teenager, I had no idea how strongly satan tries to drive down and discourage Christians by using guilt. I would go to church almost every week and then find myself at the alter in tears, asking God for forgiveness, and trying to "get back" my salvation. What I didn't know was that I cannot lose my salvation in the first place, and that it is not God who shoves tons of guilt down my throat to make me feel bad. And even when I had confessed my sins and after asking for (and recieving) forgiveness, I would still be wracked with guilt about these very same sins. And of course, being a boylover just beginning to realise that my sexual orientation was different somehow, I felt even more guilt most of the time. This was and is destructive guilt, the kind of guilt that is designed to keep us from a loving and fruit-filled life with God. It affects our walk with God like a bulldozer affects a field of daisies...it crushes it. It has taken me a very long time to realise the difference in guilt. I look at it this way, if I confess a sin and repent, etc., then I should know that I am forgiven! God's word says so! If I am still being bothered by guilt over this sin, or over ANY sin in my past which has already been forgiven, or for some unknown reason that I can't explain (I think that is called "psychological guilt"), then this is not from God, but from the enemy, who is always trying to put a wedge between myself and my Father in Heaven. The guilt that leads to repentance is over as soon as we repent. That is all that is needed for us. Yes, Game, guilt is a destroyer. It can destroy our walk with God. It can destroy our effectiveness to be a witness for God. And it can lead us to all kinds of destructive behavior upon ourselves and even others. I think that we as Christians need to have a (as near to) perfect understanding of salvation and our relationship with God. I think that if we have this, if we "arm" ourselves with this, from God's Word, then satan has nowhere to stand in our lives (although he will continue to try). God bless you my friend, Your brother in Christ, Chris |