Feeling Guilty

This past week I was driving the church suburban. It needs to be driven occasionally and checked for maintenance issues. As I was driving it, I noticed that the inspection sticker seemed to be out of date. I noticed it but was unable to take it in for an inspection until the next day. As I drove I became aware of every police officer on the road. I was wondering; would the next officer notice and pull me over and give me a ticket? As I drove the sight of an officer made me feel guilty. I was driving with guilt on my mind. The next day when I took the suburban in for its inspection I found out that the inspection sticker was valid. Turns out it was good through 2013. There was no need for a new inspection! The feeling of guilt left me.



This incident reminds me of how some people feel about church. The sight of a church can make a person feel guilty. The sight of a priest, a cross, a steeple or any other sign of God can make us feel guilty. The irony is that under the blood of Jesus our guilt has been taken away. As believer in Christ we have been set free. Sin has been defeated, yet often guilt nags at us. At a deep level this guilt is able to obtain a foothold in two places. One is in our lack of trust in God, and two is in our mentality of self-accomplishment. Both are places of spiritual warfare.



Under the spirit of self-accomplishment, the short answer is pride. Pride is a sin. When my niece was two years old, she used to tell me, “I can do it me own self.” She would say that when she wanted me or other adults to leave her to her own devices. And, sometimes she was able to accomplish the task; but there were other tasks she was unable to accomplish. Often we can be like a two year old. We are unable to see, because of our pride, our inability to solve a problem. The problem we will never be able to cure is our atonement for sin. Only Jesus can atone for our sin. Atonement for sin was accomplished on the cross.



Our second issue often is our inability to trust in God. I think we are unable to trust God because people have let us down. So we wonder, “will God let me down as well?” Faith can be difficult if we are wondering, did God really take care of my sin? Does God really love me? The good news is that the answer is always yes! God is worthy of our trust! God loves you and loves me and God has taken care of sin. We just need to accept that

God has done the work. We need to accept it as a gift.

To return to the analogy of my inspection sticker guilt: God has placed a new inspection sticker on me! I no longer need to feel guilt for my old sins, Jesus has declared me clean. There is one step in this whole removal of guilt process, we must accept God’s gift as a gift. I did not deserve a new “inspection sticker”. In fact I could not have passed the inspection on my own, but God offered me the “Jesus inspection sticker” I just needed to accept it. So I encourage you to grab hold of God’s forgiveness and let go of your guilt as I let go of mine.