Constantly contemplating all our mistakes and sins eventually results in guilt and an evil conscience, and it causes us to think differently than the way we should. We have a tendency to do whatever we meditate on, and we’re bound to sin if we think about it long enough. If we are to defeat guilt, we must overcome this sin-consciousness. Renewing our minds according to our identity in Christ and remembering we’re the righteousness of God frees us from bondage to sin.

The danger of constantly thinking of our shortcomings is that we become more aware of what we have done than what Jesus has done. When the focus is on us, we fall back into thinking that God is limited by our wrong actions. God is not limited by our actions, but by our disbelief in his faithfulness despite our actions. The solution is to focus on what Jesus did for us on the cross.

When we try to accomplish something through our own merits and we fail, we feel guilty. Believing in Jesus and the power of his blood rescues us from the mindset of depending on our self-efforts. God’s grace delivers us from our own dead, empty works so we can serve him.

This means we have a decision to make. We can either believe in or rely on what Jesus did two thousand years ago to deliver us from guilt and sin-consciousness, or labor fruitlessly under the law of Moses, which focuses on our performance. Either choice requires an effort on our part, but the effort of resisting what religion tells us and agreeing with what Jesus has already done is based on our trust in him. Living the life of grace in this way truly overcomes guilt.

Prayer:

Lord, if it weren’t for your Son, I would be left alone to do whatever I thought was right, and then suffer guilt when I realized I had sinned. But when I put my trust in what Jesus did and the power of the blood he shed for me, I realize I can forgive myself because he first forgave me. Thank you for taking away my guilt and replacing it with your righteousness. In Jesus’ name, amen.     

Scriptures:          

Hebrews 10:22

2 Corinthians 5:21

1 Timothy 4:1, 2

Hebrews 9:12-14

Isaiah 6:7, NIV