God’s Plan For Guilt

Guilt is a fact and a feeling; it is the fact of having committed an offense and it is the feeling connected to that fact. When guilt is a fact, it means that a crime has been committed, wrongdoing has been established, and a penalty must be paid. Usually a court of law is involved and a defendant is found guilty. As Christians, we understand this guilt to be sin and we know it to be indisputable. This guilt is a fact. It is there whether we acknowledge it or feel it, for “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”. We cannot change it and we cannot do anything about it. But God can and did.

As Psalm 32 states, “Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not hold against him”. In other words, “blessed is the man whose guilt will not separate him from God”. As Christians, we understand the mechanism for this blessing to be the atoning death of Christ on the cross. Case closed. Court adjourned. Guilt absolved.

Many scripture passages assure us that our “criminal” guilt is immediately and permanently erased through faith in Christ. Psalm 103:12 reads, “as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us”. We carry this guilt no longer.

Guilt as a feeling is something else altogether. It often lingers long after the fact of guilt has been dealt with. Somehow the feeling ends up being worse than the fact, as evidenced by the amount of time the psalmist spends on each. The first two verses of Psalm 32 address the fact of guilt and the way that God makes restitution to free us from it. The remaining 9 verses speak to the feeling of guilt, which carries a different cost.

“When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night, your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.” (Ps. 32:3-4).

The cost of this type of guilt is emotional, psychological, spiritual, and even physical. No judge can decree this type of guilt. Even the most vile of criminals can only be made to carry the fact of guilt. They cannot be made to feel any particular way about it nor can anyone take that feeling away. It is not removed by serving a sentence for one’s crimes. There must be an entirely separate mechanism to remove this type of guilt...the feeling of guilt and many people never have that sentence commuted. They bear the guilt of their crime long past serving the penalty.

Just as God made a way for the fact of our guilt to be resolved by paying the penalty Himself, He also made provision for the feeling of guilt. Verse 5 outlines the plan.

“Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’. And you forgave the guilt of my sin.”

This simple transaction is meant to eliminate the burden of sin yet many Christians don’t activate this part of the plan. We understand that the fact of our guilt has been settled. We know that our sin is forgiven, the debt has been paid, and we will stand blameless before God someday. But often we can’t let go of the guilt that we feel. While the fact of guilt has the power to destroy our eternal future, the feeling of guilt has the power to destroy the present. This is not God’s will for us. It is the thief who comes to destroy, but Jesus came that we would “have life, and have it to the full”.

Don’t settle for only half of God’s plan for dealing with guilt. He does not intend for you to bear the fact or the feeling and He is strong enough to carry both.

~ Melissa Gibbs has been a member of LIFE Fellowship for over 10 years, is the mother to four boys and widow of the late JD Gibbs.