THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING

THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING

I heard the phrase, “guilt is the gift that keeps on giving” a few years ago.  It’s true, isn’t it?  We feel guilty, sometimes because we are guilty of something and should feel that way, sometimes because someone wants us to because they think we should or they just like to make others feel guilty because of their own issues, or maybe even sometimes because we think we should feel guilty.

There is good guilt – “yes officer I was going too fast.”  This type is a necessary function of an informed conscience.  If you never feel guilty then you have no understanding of sin, right and wrong, or the feelings of others. 

There is bad guilt – Freud blamed everything on his mother, so we will too.

There is satanic guilt – This is when you know you have been forgiven, but you still feel this weight of guilt that keeps you from experiencing the freedom you have in Christ.

Under the category of “good guilt” we must include the word “conviction.”  This is what the Holy Spirit does to us, although it is not exactly guilt.  Conviction is becoming aware of what we were not aware of – theologically speaking that means sin.  The Holy Spirit opens our eyes to our sin, we are convicted of it, and the Lord draws us unto Himself in the act of justification.  When the believer understands sin he wants to get away from it because he knows how God hates it.

We can’t blame our guilt on God – sin belongs to us.  We can blame the knowledge of our sin on the Holy Spirit because He opens our eyes to it.  We can also blame our way out of sin on God, because He provides our salvation.  So not only is guilt the gift that keeps on giving, at least in this life, but salvation is the gift that keeps on giving on into the next!