Guilt The Gift That Keeps On Giving
Lots of us are thinking about Christmas gifts – both giving and receiving them. In recovery circles there is a gift that is mentioned often: “Guilt – the gift that keeps on giving."
God made us with a conscience and guilt helps reveal to us our wrongdoing.The Bible records that the first humans knew they had done wrong when they disobeyed God’s instructions. Because of their guilt, they hid from God and tried to cover themselves up. We, at times, act just like those first humans. Neither of them accepted the blame for what they had done but tried to place the blame on another.
God said to the man, …Did you eat fruit from that special tree? I told you not to eat from that tree!” The man said, “The woman you put here with me gave me fruit from that tree. So I ate it.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What have you done?” She said, “The snake tricked me, so I ate the fruit.” (Genesis 3:11-13 ERV)
Guilt is a gift when it reminds us to deal with our wrongdoing. We can then be at peace with God, with ourselves, and with others. If we do not deal with our wrongdoing, guilt will fester and turn to shame. It is shame that causes us many problems.
Sometimes we try to overcome the shame we feel by justifying the offence or by using our substance of choice to help us feel better. Neither of these options work. When we repent and confess to God what we have done, He will forgive us, and we will be freed from all guilt and shame. We will then have a pure heart to go to those we have harmed and seek reconciliation.
Guilt reminds us to repent and seek forgiveness from God and others for the wrongs we have done, then we can ask God to remove all our shortcomings.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, When I have done wrong, help me to quickly deal with guilt. Also, in the same way You have forgiven me, help me to forgive those who have harmed me. Amen
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