To quote ‘PsychCentral’, “In psychology, guilt is an emotional experience that occurs when a person believes or realizes — correctly or not — that they have compromised their values or morality in some way,” explains Dr. Harold Hong, a board certified psychiatrist from Raleigh, North Carolina.
Looking at a basic overview of types of guilt helps us to have the right perspectives around why we feel guilty.
Now, I definitely have been guilty of many things in my life. As I walked with God through the sanctification process, God has had to help me be brave and face the causes of that guilt, change, and grow into being who God wants us to be. I still mess up and need to repent, learn, and try again.
Yourself?
Interestingly, the Holy Bible is filled with story after story, character after character that were guilty and either came to repentance or faced God’s Wrath often ending in death.
More importantly, God’s Word is filled with so much mercy that God shows to us.
Genesis 42 vs 1, has a curious statement about the guilt of Joseph’s brothers who dread the idea of going to Egypt to buy grain to survive the severe famine.
‘Enduring Word’ expands on verse one, Genesis 42, ‘When Jacob learned that there was grain for sale in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?”’
Isn’t it typical of us, when we have done things wrong and try hide our secret that it comes out in our mannerisms and expressions? I know that I would make a terrible gangster as my face is dead giveaway. Besides my face that definitely can’t poker-face, the guilt gnaws away at me until I confess, repent, and make amends. Gangsterism is out for me. 😂
Paul tells us in Romans 4 vs 7-8 that we are incredibly blessed when God forgives us.
But to walk in that forgiveness requires us to be willing to sit in the discomfort of our wrongness. Paul tells us in Romans 12 vs 3, “Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.” Likewise Peter warns us to not be flippant in our regard of ourselves and our standing with God. 1 Peter 5 vs 8, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
The reality we need to confront is our internalised bias that we are better than we think we are. This delusion can see us skirting past things that God calls evil because our moral compass is based on personal interpretation and not on God’s Word as Authoritative and God as Sovereign. An incredible quote, Brent Hansen, was used in church on Sunday that really forces us to examine the fault lines of our morality-bias.
To dig into our guilt, ‘Aeon’ outlines some of the character traits we may overlook that confirm that we are not as “good in our own eyes” we think are. Getting sober-minded, and honest with ourselves can help us to be more real with God and humble as we seek God to grow us into Christ-likeness.
To quote Christian Jarrett, ‘Aeon’, “It’s a question that’s reverberated through the ages – are humans, though imperfect, essentially kind, sensible, good-natured creatures? Or are we, deep down, wired to be bad, blinkered, idle, vain, vengeful and selfish? There are no easy answers, and there’s clearly a lot of variation between individuals, but here we shine some evidence-based light on the matter through 10 dispiriting findings that reveal the darker and less impressive aspects of human nature.”’
Jarrett goes onto list a number of characteristics that we may be guilty of.
- We view minorities and the vulnerable as less than human: “My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people over others?”- James 2 vs 1
- Experience Schadenfreude (pleasure at another person’s distress) by the age of four: “Don’t rejoice when your enemies fall; don’t be happy when they stumble. For the Lord will be displeased with you and will turn his anger away from them.” – Proverbs 24 vs 17-18
- We believe in karma – assuming that the downtrodden of the world deserve their fate: ‘As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?” “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.”’ – John 9 vs 1-3
- We are blinkered and dogmatic: ‘“You [God] asked, “Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?” “It is I—and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me.”’ – Job 42 vs 3
The list goes on….
Jarrett, concludes, “Don’t get too down – these findings say nothing of the success that some of us have had in overcoming our baser instincts. In fact, it is arguably by acknowledging and understanding our shortcomings that we can more successfully overcome them, and so cultivate the better angels of our nature.” – https://aeon.co/ideas/the-bad-news-on-human-nature-in-10-findings-from-psychology
BUT OUR GOD……
God is really SUPER SMART by inviting us into a relationship with Him through Jesus because He knows that the burden of guilt will destroy us.
Lamentations 3 vs 22-23: “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Psalms 103 vs 12: “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our wrongdoings from us.”
We don’t have to live in the echo chamber of guilt as Joseph’s brothers did for 22 years. In fact, the quicker we face our guilt, lay it before God and allow the Holy Spirit to help us overcome, the quicker we can grow in our trust and knowledge that God forgives and loves us. We can be free from the echo chamber of suffocating depressing guilt that creates paranoia.
LUKE 5 vs 32: “I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.”- MESSIAH KING JESUS.
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