April 22, 2021 (Thursday)
This is the fifth of nine blogs on “Personal Problems in Life: Feelings of Anxiety, Loneliness, Depression, Anger, Guilt, Inferiority, Grief, Hostility, and Feelings Associated with Sickness.”
When we violate God’s law we are guilty of sin whether we acknowledge it or not. This where the psychiatrist and the theologian usually part company. We ordinary believers in God believe guilt is real, and the psychiatrist identifies much guilt that patients feel as unreal, or totally subjective. Admittedly, we can feel guilty about having done something that is not really wrong as far as God is concerned, but there is a Scripture that says if we think it’s wrong and do it, we are guilty of sin because that is what we thought it was (Romans 14:23). The guilt most of us are concerned about is real, resulting from doing what we knew to be wrong and feeling regret because of it.
Since feelings of guilt can be debilitating, Christians have been accused of making people feel guilty when they were not guilty of anything, thereby contributing to their emotional distress. Perhaps there is some validity in that accusation. Living our lives in such changing circumstances is confusing for most of us. It cannot be denied that in the past the emphasis in many churches has been on judgment and punishment for sin. The emphasis in most churches today is upon forgiveness and the grace of God, which is where the emphasis should have been all along.
O.K., we’ve got that straight but we still have the problem of subjective guilt that haunts us and drags us down. The gospel is the answer to all forms of guilt. Christ died for sinners, which includes all of us. He loves. He forgives. He gives us a new life, a second chance, and a third, and more. Let us not be nonchalant about how we live. We should live uprightly, wanting to obey God and serve others. Let us give God the best that we have within ourselves, accept His love and forgiveness, and thereby overcome the feelings of guilt that hinder us daily. From that moment as children when we were caught with our hands in the cookie jar we may have been told how bad we are. Some of us grew up with a constant diet of being made to feel guilty and worthless. God overcomes all of that with His love, if we will accept it and rejoice in it. God’s grace is greater than our sin.
GRACE GREATER THAN OUR SIN
Words: Julia H. Johnston
Music: Daniel B. Towner
1910
Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!
Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured,
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled.
Refrain:
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin!
Sin and despair, like the sea waves cold,
Threaten the soul with infinite loss;
Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold,
Points to the refuge, the mighty cross.
Refrain
Dark is the stain that we cannot hide;
What can we do to wash it away?
Look! There is flowing a crimson tide,
Brighter than snow you may be today.
Refrain
Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace,
Freely bestowed on all who believe!
You that are longing to see His face,
Will you this moment His grace receive?
Refrain