Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

• 1 John 3:20

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,

• Romans 8:1

Who is a God like you,
    who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
    of the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry forever
    but delight to show mercy.

• Micah 7:18

“I, even I, am he who blots out
    your transgressions, for my own sake,
    and remembers your sins no more.

• Isaiah 43:25

“The feeling of being, or not being, forgiven and loved, is not what matters. One must come down to brass tacks. If there is a particular sin on your conscience, repent and confess it. If there isn’t, tell the despondent devil not to be silly. You can’t help hearing his voice (the odious inner radio) but you must treat it merely like a buzzing in your ears or any other irrational nuisance. (2.) Remember the story in the Imitation, how the Christ on the crucifix suddenly spoke to the monk who was so anxious about his salvation and said ‘If you knew that all was well, what would you, today, do, or stop doing?’ When you have found the answer, do it or stop doing it. You see, one must always get back to the practical and definite. What the devil loves is that vague cloud of unspecified guilt feeling or unspecified virtue by which he lures us into despair or presumption. ‘Details, please?’ is the answer. (3.) The sense of dereliction cannot be a bad symptom for Our Lord Himself experienced it in its depth – ‘Why hast thou forsaken me?’”

• C.S. Lewis, Letters to an American Lady

I wrote this morning about how Satan wants nothing better than to have us feel guilty over sins that God has forgiven and forgotten long ago.

Then, I was looking for a C.S. Lewis quote that I have used before that the pain is not just the pain that we are suffering, but the shadow of the pain.  The conscious thought that we are suffering.  I did not find that one, but I found the one above where C.S. Lewis says what I had said this morning, and he adds a practical concept.  “Get specific.”  If there is a specific sin, repent, confess, and be done with it.  If not, rebuke Satan for being silly and distracting you from what God wants you to do.

But I was wanting to flip the “pain” quote from C.S. Lewis to a “guilt” quote.

It makes it a double dose of guilt when we intellectually feel guilty for something God has already forgiven.  Now, we have the burden of repenting and confessing another sin, but is feeling guilty a sin?

If we have already confessed and repented, and there is no backsliding so that we have returned to an old sin, then yes, feeling guilty when God has forgiven us shows a weakness in our faith.  Maybe that is not a sin in itself, but we should have built stronger barriers by spending more time in prayer and Bible study.  We do not trust God in the promises that He has made.

But like all other sin, we need to repent.  We need to confess.

God keeps His promises.  When our sins are washed away, they are washed away.  Do not take a hike down that old road again.  God has settled that deal.

Trust in God.  Forgive those who have wronged you.  And accept God’s forgiveness.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.