Goodbye Guilt

In everything God does He tries to bring us closer to Him. Through the good times and bad He constantly tries to reach out to us, to care for us, and to help us feel loved. Over and over again both the Old and New Testament show how much God cares for us and loves us. Zephaniah 3:17 says, "The Lord [our] God is with [us], he is might to save. He will take great delight in [us], he will quiet [us] with his love, he will rejoice over [us] with singing." Jeremiah 31:3 says "The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving kindness." And 1 John 4:16 says that "we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love." 

However, when we fall short, mess up, or make mistakes sometimes we feel that God will reject us for the shortcomings we have had in our lives. I often talk to people who tell me that they feel as though they can't go to church or pray to God or read their Bible because God probably doesn't want anything to do with them now that they've "made a mistake". Every time I hear these stories my heart breaks for everyone that has ever felt that way -- including myself, I've felt this way many times. If you've ever felt this way before you probably recognize this feeling as guilt. Yet, no matter how badly we screw up, God never intends for us to feel guilt. Our God isn't one of guilt, He's a God of conviction. 

So what's the difference between guilt and conviction? And how do we know how to tell the difference? 

Guilt is not from God. Guilt comes hand in hand shame, disgrace, dishonour, and degradation. Therefore, when we feel guilt, this is not God's attempt to change our behaviours but satan's attempt to push us further away from God. Guilt tries to convince us we are unable to be redeemed from our mistakes and that God no longer loves us because of the mistakes we have made. Both of these are lies. The goal of guilt is to isolate us, cause us to hurt our relationships, and break our trust in God. It tries to pull us away from God and cause us to run away from Him. 

Conviction, contrarily, comes from God. We know that conviction comes from God because in everything God does He is always trying to draw us closer to Him. He loves us immensely and pursues us every moment of our lives. Therefore, when we feel conviction, this is God's attempt to draw us closer to Him. Conviction comes hand in hand with compassion, mercy, grace, and honour. Conviction doesn't condemn us but lifts us up. The goal of conviction is to pull us into community and fully rely on God. It doesn't abandon us but gives us God's hand to hold onto.

Therefore, I urge you to reject the feelings of guilt you may have and cling onto the feelings of conviction you may have. Because while guilt leads to fear, conviction leads to repentance. And while guilt brings rejection, conviction brings redemption. 

It's time for us to start listening to our convictions and say goodbye guilt.