Guilt And Its Side Effects
Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God.
~Romans 3:19, NLT
There is no emotional burden that produces more pain, fear and alienation like the feeling of guilt.
~Robert McGee
I did something last week that was long overdue, I burned my prayer journals. I sent the up as a holocaust, a whole burnt offering, an incense to heaven. Some of the prayer were more than fifty years old. The only way I could talk myself into doing such a thing was to save at radom a few entries and now I have committed myself to reading one a day. I did the same thing with my notes and I am rereading them daily also. This devotional thought is from some old notes.
There is little doubt, guilt is a destructive emotion that damages our spiritual health. Guilt causes us to lose self-respect. It causes our spirit to wither and eats like a cancer at our self-worth. Even worse, guilt thrives on fear and failure and it never encourages or inspires. Freud, who was a nut himself, taught that guilt is a social problem that can always be blamed on someone else like our parents. “I am a bad person because my father gave me a whipping when I was a child.” Yeah, right. I am not in prison because my mother beat the he-double tooth pick out of me. The biblical view of guilt is that although our parents did sin in the garden, we are all guilty. We are sinners by nature and choice. Of course there are some innocence among us; small children and those with mental disabilities. If you heard coach Stalling talk about his son John Mark, you know what I mean. Generally speaking: Guilt is an objective fact, not a subjective feeling. In Adam we all sin.
We studied Romans 8 in bible study yesterday. One old preacher said, “I had rather live in Romans 8 than the garden of Eden, fences in on one side by NO CONDEMNATION and on the other side by NO SEPARATION.” In Christ we are acquitted as if we had never sinned. Unfortunately, we still sin and sin always produces guilt. The key to victory is to confess our sin and lay claim to our forgiveness in Christ. We call this spiritual breathing—we exhale by confessing our sin, we inhale by recieving a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit. How often do you breath? As often as you need!
Some of you have heard me tell the story of the slave boy growing up on a plantation. The master had a beautiful lake in back of the plantation house. On the lake he had several beautiful white swans. From his window tower, the master would watch his swans. The master had a very strict rule, no throwing rocks in the lake for danger of hitting one of his swans. The little boy could’t resist; each day he would through rocks and each day he would get a little closer to hitting a swan. Finally he hit a swan in the head and the swan died. The little killer drug the swan out of the pond and burried it a few hundred feet away. Unfortunately, another slave witnessed the whole thing. He was the head cook. The next day the kid walked through the kitchen to see what is for dinner. The old cook grabs him and says, “I saw you kill that swan yesterday: unless you want me to tell the master, you get down on your all fours and scrub this floor.” Needless to say, the old cook made the boy his slave. The boy lived in misery for months until he decided it was not worth it. He went to the master and confessed the whole thing. The master said, “I know, I was watching; I saw the whole thing.” “Why didn’t you do something?” The kid asks. “I was waiting for you to tell me the truth and now I hope you have learned a lesson. I am going to forgive you this time but do not do it again.” The little fellow hurried out of the master’s office and went straight to the kitchen. The old cook said, “All right boy, get to scrubbing.” “Not today,” the kid said. “I will tell the master,” the old cook said. “Go ahead”, said the kid, “but he already knows because I told him myself.” The moral of the story: you will have a much happier life if you confess your sin to the Master. As Paul said in Romans 6, “Sin is no longer your master.”
- I saw Bill yesterday about noon. They were giving him blood and were talking him to get a catscan. He was still in the ER of Huntsville Hospital. Joe visited him last night and he was in room 373.
- We had 17 at the mens breakfast last Saturday and there was no clean up. I think eating at Libby’s is a great idea.
- This Wednesday night: LOVING THE BRETHERN 1 Peter 1:22-25
- October 25—Trunk-A-Treat
- October 26 we host the MORGAN BAPTIST ASSOCIATION ANNUAL MEETING and we serve lunch.
- Sunday night November 1 at 5:00 pm…The Bill Smith Jambalaya Supper
- Wednesday November 4, Mid-week day service at 10:30.
Have a Marvelous Monday and thanks for reading the blog!!!!
