I have recently found that struggling with a guilty conscience can be one of the hardest things to overcome. In Job chapter 42 verse 6, Job says to the Lord, “Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes,” because of the sin he had committed against the Lord. Job did the right thing and set the good example by not only being ashamed of himself and his sin, but also repenting.
As Christians, and more specifically followers of Christ, guilty consciences should quickly follow after sinning. Because Christ Himself resides in our hearts (“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?” 1Cor. 3:16; “For we are the temple of the living God.” 2Cor. 6:16) and it would only make sense that we would feel guilt after committing a sin against the Lord.
However, a guilty conscience is not and should not be the end result after sinning. The next step, in which Job sets the prime example, is to repent and ask forgiveness from a loving and unimaginably gracious and merciful God. Only in this second step can our consciences finally be cleared in knowing that God forgave us.
This second step is what I have been struggling to reach recently. I have been living with a guilty conscience that consumed my thoughts; it was like a festering wound that I had yet to properly address. The guilt that I have felt and the inability to lay it down at the foot of the cross (caused by my selfishness), took precedence over my intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.
After about a week of the guilt festering and of making the same mistakes over and over, I came to the point where I could not stand it any longer. I finally came full circle and took that second step of asking forgiveness and repenting. Did I feel any better afterwards? You bet I did. I felt like a new man; I felt as if I could finally enjoy worship again because I was at a good place with my savior and I could put my full heart and mind into it, without having to hold anything back.
In the middle of writing this blog, I was talking to a friend of mine about repentance and asked him if he knew of any good verses. Here is what he said:
“It’s kind of obscure in a way, but I think it has to do with the heart behind repentance and how God responds to us. It’s from Isaiah 1, and God is talking to Israel. ‘16 wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds
out of my sight!
Stop doing wrong,
17 learn to do right!
Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed. [a]
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow.
18 “Come now, let us reason together,”
says the LORD.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.’
Repentance is not just being sorry, but taking ourselves and putting ourselves to the work that God has for us (as opposed to the sin we were in) = life change.”
If there is something that is on your heart that you have not taken to the cross, I encourage you to confess with your mouth and to give it all over to the Lord. Trust me, I know that it is much easier said than done. God is so much bigger than anything we can ever fathom and if you let Him, He will take your guilt so that your precious relationship with Him can begin to be mended.
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