There’s Only One Way to Get Rid of Guilt
By Rick Warren
“But He was pierced for our offenses, He was crushed for our wrongdoings . . . All of us, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the wrongdoing of us all to fall on Him.” Isaiah 53:5-6 (NASB)
Every one of us has a good reason to feel guilt. Not one does everything right! We hurt other people. We act selfishly. Often the unkindest things we say and do are to the people we love the most.
Just like you can’t hide your sins from God, you can’t hide your guilt from him either. Not only that, but when you try to cover up your guilty feelings, they start to eat at you on the inside.
Only one thing works to get rid of guilt: Confess your sins, and trust in God’s forgiveness. The word “confession” in the Bible in Greek is homologeo. Homo means “same.” Logeo means “to speak.” So confession simply means to agree with God: “You’re right, God. I was wrong.”
Everything you’re going to do wrong—including the stuff you’re going to do tomorrow, next week, and 10 years from now—has already been paid for. That is the goodness of God.
Jesus takes all your guilt on himself. He gives you his goodness—his righteousness. This is the most basic, fundamental truth of the Bible: Your broken soul becomes whole again in him.
The Bible says in Isaiah 53:5-6, “But He was pierced for our offenses, He was crushed for our wrongdoings . . . All of us, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the wrongdoing of us all to fall on Him” (NASB).
If you don’t feel forgiven, it means you don’t fully understand God’s goodness. When Jesus died, he covered all your sins, threw them into the deepest part of the sea, and put up a “No Fishing” sign.
Confess your sin to God. And because he forgives and forgets your sin, you’ll have no need to drag it out again.
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This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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