Power for Good

Guilt can lead to paralysis. But it can also be a powerful force of motivation for repentance and renewal. Earlier I said that guilt was a gift from God that draws our attention to something that we should stop doing. In this sense, guilt properly applied is a comfort mechanism that is God’s gift to us. If we are walking outside of God’s ways, we will feel guilty. The stress that this brings to our lives can be eliminated very simply by returning to God’s ways!

If you’re cheating on your spouse, you should feel guilty. You are guilty, and you should feel it, and you should stop. If you are a shoplifter, you should feel guilty. If you are contentious, always bringing strife into the lives around you, you should feel guilty. If you are a gossip, you should feel guilty. If, in all these things, you do not feel guilty, you have deeper problems than just the behavior.

On the comfort spiral, when we are at the point of feeling guilty for our behavior, that isn’t a false accusation. If I am overeating, feeling guilty can be a strong signal to stop! When a sense of guilt and the behavior that engendered it are brought to God’s throne of grace, then the very power of God has been released into your life. And now we are moving into the power of hope.

Each of us is affected by brokenness. Sin is a breakdown in relationship. Whether the relationship is with God or another human being, discontinuity is created when we seek our own needs, wants or desires, without regard to God or others. Sin is a failure to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, or to love our neighbor as ourselves. All brokenness comes from sin, whether it is our own sin, or the sin of others. God did not create a broken world. He looked upon his creation, and saw that it was good.¹ Brokenness came about with the fall, as Adam and Eve decided to ignore what God told them, and went their own way.

Immediately there was a breach in the relationship with each other, and with God. The relationship between man and woman changed as they suddenly felt shame, looking upon one another. They covered themselves up, to hide their shame. But there was more shame, and they also covered themselves up to be invisible to God. “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.”²

The best reaction to such shame, though, is not to run and hide. God is seeking to build relationships, not destroy them. God’s work is one of restoration, not ruin. When guilt drives us into God’s loving embrace, then we are cooperating with grace, and open ourselves to God’s restoration work. Restoration is what God is about. Guilt has the power to move us toward restoration, if we respond appropriately.

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¹ Genesis 1:10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31
² Genesis 3:8