Maybe you go to church, or maybe you don’t. Maybe you call yourself a Christian or maybe you’re not even sure you want to. What you do know is that you live with a sense of guilt and confusion. You lack any lasting peace and wonder if it will ever change.
Guilt sometimes leaves us with the vague feeling that we are not good enough and that we deserve whatever happens. But sometimes it leaves us angry and confused about why others seem to have peace and seem so sure of their relationship with God, while we live with constant doubt.
The problem with guilt is that it’s more than an emotion. It is a state of being. We are all guilty before a holy God. And there is only one remedy and one road to real peace.
We live in a world where some fears are reasonable.
There are dangerous people.
Dangerous situations.
Spiritual dangers.
And Scripture certainly does not tell us to ignore genuine threats or behave foolishly.
But Proverbs 28.1 describes another kind of fear:
“The wicked flee when no one pursues.”
What happens when there is no real pursuer?
No immediate threat?
No one actually chasing us?
Could fear sometimes be pointing to something else?
Perhaps guilt.
An accusing conscience.
A refusal to deal with sin.
Or a heart that has become increasingly suspicious, fearful, and unsettled because we have resisted what God is showing us.
That was part of Saul’s story.
He became consumed with fear and suspicion toward David. But David was not ultimately the source of Saul’s problem.
Saul had rejected God’s Word.
And instead of responding with repentance, his fear eventually fed jealousy, anger, and growing paranoia.
So could some forms of guilt and anxiety function like an early warning system—something that should drive us toward God before we harden our hearts further?
At the same time, we need to be careful.
Not every struggle with anxiety or paranoia is the result of personal sin. Physical illness and other factors can also contribute.
But when fear becomes excessive, persistent, or irrational, Scripture gives us good reason to examine more than our circumstances.
We may also need to examine our hearts.
Today we’ll look at the difference between reasonable caution and sinful fear, how conscience can accuse or excuse us, what Saul’s downward spiral can teach us, and what to do when anxiety begins to control our thinking.
We’ll also look at God’s faithfulness in hard times, the importance of doing what is morally right rather than merely what seems advantageous, and what Scripture says about authority and contentment.
Today we’ll look at how guilt and shame are tied to other negative emotions like fear and shame. We’ll also see how the culture has tried to remove all restrictions, including God’s law, to alleviate feelings of guilt, instead of dealing with the root issues. Then we’ll look at what guilt is biblically and how God says to deal with it.
Today and in the next post, we’re going to talk about guilt, what it is, and why we experience it? We’ll look at how the world views it, some examples of guilt in the Bible, and we’ll get the biblical perspective on it. Finally, we’ll discuss what we as Christians should do about it?
