To Be or Not to Be...Guilty
Much of my work as a pastor involves pastoral counseling. I often wonder why. If people would just obey the Word as it is preached and taught, there would be much less need for individual counseling. However, the fact of life is that counseling is a big part of ministry.
Often I find people come for counseling because of a false sense of guilt. Guilt is a conscience issue. Our conscience is influenced by many things. It can be influenced by our parent's teaching or practice, by our church's teaching or practice, by friends opinions, by the world and many other influences. No two consciences are the same although the Holy Spirit is always right. I Timothy 4:2 mentions that we can have our conscience seared. We may overlook something that is truly wrong, or it may seem that everything we do is wrong even though God says otherwise. We need to distinguish between true guilt and false guilt.
True guilt is the uncomfortable awareness that we have violated God's moral law and is produced partly by the conviction of the Holy Spirit and partly by our own conscience. False guilt, on the other hand, results in a feeling of guilt for a thought, speech, or deed that God's Word does not condemn.
True guilt is valuable in leading us to repentance. II Corinthians 7:10 tells us, "...godly sorrow worketh repentance." False guilt stems from social situations, fear of taboos, or losing love. In other words, it is based solely on feeling and emotion. Some feel guilty because they have been tempted to sin, but temptation to sin is not the same as committing the sin. If that were the case then Jesus was a sinner (Hebrews 4:15-- "For we have not an high priest...{that} was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin)."
True guilt comes from a genuine conscience that has betrayed an authentic standard. False guilt comes from the judgment of man, not God's Word.
True guilt is the result of God's divine judgment and often does not weigh us down. The fear of social judgment, and the disapproval of man can and most likely will cause us to carry a weight that we do not rightly own. We become independent of them in proportion to our dependence upon God.
False guilt usually begins in childhood. A too rigid conscience is developed by too rigid expectations or standards imposed by the parents. Parents that excessively blame, condemn, judge, and/or accuse their children cause a warped idea of the standard, thus causing anger and rebellion. This is what Paul warns us about in Ephesians 6:4, "And, ye fathers,provoke not your children to wrath...", and again in Colossians 3:21, "Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged." Unforgiving parents that punish excessively also aid to in a child's warped sense of right and wrong. Parents by omission can also damage the young conscience. By failing to praise, encourage, and appreciate the individual child they teach that they are never satisfied with the child which in turn leads to an exaggeration of right or wrong.
So what is the treatment for false guilt? Let me give you four thoughts. 1. Understand it for what it is and evaluate it in light of the circumstances. 2. Feelings of bitterness and pride must be separated from the false guilt feelings. Bitterness and pride can be caused by the false guilt an individual experiences, and now false guilt is intermingled with true guilt. 3. Realize you have no right to condemn yourself. Only God has that right, and we would do best to leave the condemning to Him. 4. Set new goals based on what you believe God expects, not man.
And what about true guilt? Remember the tree R's. Repent (Joshua 24:23). Await for the cleansing of all unrighteousness (I John 1:9). Forsake your sin. It is the forsaking of sin that brings mercy--"He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." Return (Joshua 24:24). Get back to the Lord. Obedience brings no guilt. Restore (Leviticus 6:4). Make right the wrongs that you have committed, but keep it only between those involved.
Free yourself from guilt--whether it be true guilt or false guilt. Then you will be free to serve God in His power.
For more on this topic, see The Minstrel's hub, The Acuser and the Orphan at http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Accuser-and-The-Orphan#comment5734874
