The weight of guilt.

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As children of God we are called to live in freedom from the guilt of sin. Are you living in this freedom?

And Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 And in the morning he returned to the temple, and all the people came to him; and he sat down and taught them. 3 Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought to him a woman caught in adultery; and having placed her in the midst, 4 they said to him, Teacher, this woman has been caught in the very act of adultery. 5 And in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. What then do you say? 6 But they said this, testing him, that they might accuse him. But Jesus stooped down to the ground and wrote on the ground with his finger. 7 And as they continued to question him, he straightened up and said to them, Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her. 8 And again stooping down to the ground, he continued writing on the ground. 9 But when they heard this, being convicted by their own conscience, they went out one by one, beginning at the eldest even unto the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 And Jesus straightened up, and seeing no one but the woman, and said unto her, Woman, where are they that accused thee? Did no man condemn thee? 11 And she said, No man, Lord. Then said Jesus unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

John 8:1-11

Feeling guilty for doing something that later our conscience accuses us of is reasonable, but living this way all our life is not. Guilt is that feeling that reminds us that we have committed a sin, that we are in violation, and we need to repent of it. But there is someone who uses this for another purpose, the devil uses this emotion and distorts it to keep us prisoners of that guilt for having sinned, feeling this way also generates great insecurity of God's love for us and thus everything fluctuates around us.

We can say that this feeling of guilt is like a tool from God that somehow incites us and leads us to repentance, it is healthy. We can also say that guilt helps us to focus again on the right path.

Now, the enemy distorts the truth, creates the means for us to feel responsible for those things that are not under our control, and thus keeps us subdued. This unfortunately occurs with those brothers of legalistic churches in which they are absolutely guilty of everything that happens to them without being able to have access to genuine repentance, they burden themselves with guilt that does not exist or that does not belong to them.

This could be called "self-condemnation" and this is definitely a great obstacle to having a healthy relationship with God. It is not God, it is us who burden ourselves with guilt that limits us and does not allow us to have full experiences with God. We miss out on enjoying peace with God and God's peace is that by feeling guilty all the time, our hearts and minds are filled with fear that God will reject us or be part of us. And in turn this causes us to show in some way that we are worth something. In the end we do not live fully, with confidence and in freedom; we are living with absolute fear and this is what dominates us day after day.

Living this way makes it impossible for trust with God to develop because those who live this way constantly only judge everything based on God's judgment of them for being guilty, that is, they are always waiting for God's judgment or punishment to fall on them for their guilt.

8 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Romans 8:1

Christ did not come to condemn his creation, quite the contrary, just as he was resurrected, he also came to resurrect us and make us righteous, clean and holy before God. Let us surrender today all our situation, the guilt that invades us and he will set us free forever. Let us live that fullness of life starting today. Do you accept his freedom?

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