I have always held onto guilt after sinning. Despite my knowledge of Christ and his grace I still felt like I needed make some sort of effort to show I was sorry for what I did. I always felt like if I didn’t feel guilty because of sin that I was somehow cheating, and God would somehow be less willing to forgive me.
I guess I was basing this off of my own experience as a human. I am much more likely to forgive someone if they act sorry for what they did. It is so much more difficult to forgive someone who shows no remorse isn’t it?
The problem came when I realized that I sin all of the time and so all of the time I was bogged down with feeling guilty and feeling unworthy of being God’s son. The result of this was that I never felt worthy to do anything for the Kingdom. I felt unworthy of doing anything of value for God because I always felt weighed down with remorse for my sin.
“I can’t help with the youth group because I am not a good Christian example”
“I can’t go on the World Race because I am too sinful and not spiritually mature enough to be a missionary”
I have come to realize though that this is one of Satan’s most clever tricks. He knows Christ won by saving us, and that in Christ sin has no power over us, but he still manages to convince us of our continued unworthiness despite Christ’s love. Why? Because soldiers who feel like they are fighting wounded won’t fight as hard or might nor fight at all.
But we aren’t wounded anymore. Christ paid that debt! When we sin Christ has it covered. I know this is elementary Christian stuff, but have you ever taken a second to really think about it? We aren’t on a scale of good and bad, we are loved by Christ yesterday, today, and tomorrow, no matter what. Think about this! Feelings of guilt are a lie from the enemy.
If you and I feel like we are always fighting on the defensive against sin then we will have no time and thoughts for fighting on the offensive against it. I got so bogged down by feeling constantly attacked by sin and then in feeling guilty afterwards that I never attacked back.
In Matthew 16:18 Jesus is speaking to peter and says, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Do you see the crazy thing about this verse? Gates are not for offense they are for defense. Jesus says that the gates of hell will not prevail against us, the Church. As in we are fighting offensively against the gates of hell. In that verse WE are the army attacking hell. WE are the army besieging hell. WE are the army who will knock down the gates of hell and conquer all within.
Exciting isn’t it?
So remember, God not only gave you a shield, he gave you a sword to fight back. Remember that sin has no hold on you; it will never be bigger than Christ’s love. It is time to pick up your sword and DO SOME DAMAGE against the enemy!
P.S. There is a button on the left of this screen that says "Support me!" Just think. If you pass up the Starbucks ONCE a month and instead give that $5 each month to help me bring Jesus to people that would add up to ALOT of help!
