"WHAT IS GUILT?"

Written by Rob Bailes

Where Does Guilt Come From?

Have you ever had to sneak around to enjoy something you knew that you weren't suppose to be doing? Most of us that spend our lives in church and related activities would probably not admit to doing this, but chances are you have. Right? Still don't want to admit it, do you? Ok.

I can see you now, either grinning with guilt or maybe your acting surprised that I would even suggest such an idea! Then some of you could be reading through wrinkled brows right now and thinking, "You don't have a clue as to what I'm doing and need to just keep your opinion about my life to yourself!

I can't help findng this a bit humorous; because the fact is, my friend, that we all have temptations and none of us are perfect and I'll be the first to admit this fact! As a matter of fact, it is when I pretend not to have any problems with temptation that I find myself feeling the most guilt and that guilt is what causes me to become spiritually unproductive.

What I didn't realize, while growing up in the church and then attending church each week when I had my own my family, was that I had been trying so hard to appear perfect like most everyone else in the church. So I had to suppress my need to ask questions that had to do with my daily struggles with temptation. I even felt as though noone else had these struggles and this made me feel even worse about myself. You are probably wondering what I could have been involved in to be feeling sooo guilty.

The fact is that I was oppressed by guilt over the temptations of every day things I experienced as a typical carnal teenager and in reality, I had learned about guilt but didn't understand the freedom of God's forgiveness. Satan had the upper hand on me and was using my past by making me feel guilty for even thinking about it. Think for a second about how guilt makes you feel. Is it a free feeling, close to God, victorious, productive or clean?

Of course it is the opposite of all of those things, yet the Word of God tells us over and over that those things decribe the very way that Jesus wanted us to live our lives. Living a life that is free, in communion with God, overcoming and victorious against satan, producing fruit of righteousness and remaining pure in your hearts!

If that is what Jesus wants in our lives then why don't we live life this way? Where are the people in the church who are claiming freedom in Christ in the church services? Why are people who have real life testimonies of much time spent in commnunion with God only talked about in church libraries or in messages by the minister? I know I'm stepping on some toes right now, but just hang with me!
Why aren't people interested in starting new groups to share stories of victorious living in Christ and producing more believers? I have offered to help people start groups for this purpose for the past two weeks on facebook through my ministry and have only had two people show any interest out of about 600 people who have received this message! Why have the people in the church today lost an interest in living the life God meant for us to live?

Could it be because we do not feel worthy? Maybe we feel that our battles with temptation and the past are too great to be able to actually step out and do something for the Lord and be productive for Christ. Guess what! I felt this way too before I stepped forward to start this ministry! That is right and I was no different than any other person out there today! What I'm saying to you today, my friend, is that satan is the source of guilt and God is the source of freedom in our lives!

James says in chapter one of the book of James and verses 2-4,
2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

The word perfect doesn't mean totally without fault, but rather it means maturing spiritually. You know the old phrase, "Practice makes perfect"? That would apply to Jame's lesson here and He tells them to be joyful, not sad and oppressed by guilt! Why? Because it is this test that will help them to grow stronger in their faith and trust in God preparing them for a time when larger situations and responcibilities come their way. Any athelete knows that they only build strength by exercising in their field of interest, so how will we ever grow stronger if we don't go through temptations?

Back to my first question about sneaking around to enjoy the forbidden things! Uhuh, you thought I had forgotten all about that, didn't you? Not quite! For those of you who felt like you had us all fooled, I'd like to ask you if you have ever slipped in a donut between work or the house without a word or maybe a bag of chips? Have you caught yourself staring at the woman wearing the really short skirt in the grocery line? How about the time when the person in front of you at the light didn't pull out quite fast enough? Maybe it's the strong desire to get drunk when you pass the wine and beer section when you are out of town and alone after a long hard week? Is there times when you see someone who is poor and dirty and you just walk past without a care? Does that still cause us to feel guilty? What about those who have conditions and diets that require no salt or sugar, but you just can't resist when you stop by the conveinent store on the way home to get gas?

What if someone followed you around with a video camera for a solid week? Would you find yourself on video doing some things that you knew you should avoid doing? OK then, not to worry! haha! We all have those moments and as long as we never admit them to anyone, guess what; satan has us trapped into the guilt barrel! We can't fully live our lives if we feel like we are hiding something that someone may find out about. Satan loves for us to live like that and remain unproductive.

You see my friend, it was in satan's plan all along that we would get caught and feel the guilt and embarrassment! That's why satan waits until great men of God have been in the ministry long enough to build a large congregation before he reveals their weaknesses many times! Satan knows that, if he can create a ripple, that it will weaken the faith of some who were following that man of God whose hidden sin was publicly exposed. We have all seen it repeatedly in the news and on the internet. As a matter of fact, there was a King who was called a man after God's own heart, that was high in power when satan revealed his hiden secrets and sins. Churches have sang many of the songs that he wrote in the book of Psalm before he became a King. Yes, I'm talking about King david! You see, God uses us all regardless of our weaknesses and our failures. My friend, as a man in this flesh, it is normal for you to stumble; just grow stronger by talking to your Christian brother or sister, repent to God and spend more time in the Word.

The Bible does tell us how to prevent yeilding to temptation and I want you to give it a try! I won't pick on you and your temptations, if you'll promise to try what I am going to tell you right now! Ok?

Psa 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

The psalmist, David makes it so easy for us to understand. We all can avoid falling to temptation and sin by reading the word of God! It was the word of his God that kept him from sin; from falling to temptations destructive grasp.
Most of us know though, that David, known as a man after God's own heart, gave in to his temptations after becoming a King. Yes, he too experienced the oppression of satan's guilt in his mind and his spirit. He too had to repent and through this he grew in his faith! Just remember that it isn't you or I that build our spiritual strength; it is the trust we put in Christ each time we are tempted and that strengthens our faith in God through spiritual maturity!

Philippians 4;13 - I can do all things THROUGH CHRIST which strengthens me!