November 24, 2024
When I look at my Facebook feed, every so often, it shows a series of video clips for me to watch. Many of these clips are supposed to be funny but are often cruel. Some of them promote things that run contrary to living a Christian life. Occasionally there is a good one that is encouraging and uplifting. The worst part about these clips is the fact that once you start watching, before you know it, a chunk of time has passed, time you can’t get back. This morning, I saw one of those good clips. Pastor Adrian Rogers asked the question, “What is guilt.” Most people would answer that question by saying guilt is that bad feeling you get when you’ve done something wrong. Pastor Rogers went on to point out that guilt is not a feeling. When you touch a hot stove, you quickly remove your hand because you feel a burn. The burning feeling and the actual burn are two different things. I thought that was an excellent illustration about how many folks deal with sin. You remove your hand to stop that burning treatment, but you also must treat the actual burn. Far too many people seek to remove their guilty feelings rather than deal with their guilt. When we sin, we can do lots of things to try and remove that guilty feeling. We can ask the person we have wronged to forgive us. We can do lots of good deeds to try and offset the bad and even the scales a bit. However, these things just deal with the symptoms of guilt and not the guilt itself. To deal with the actual guilt, we need to know what guilt is. Guilt is the fact that we have broken the law. Because we have broken the law, we are guilty. If I get a speeding ticket, I can resolve to drive slower and while that might ease my conscience a bit, it doesn’t negate the fact that I am guilty. To deal with the actual guilt of my lead foot, I either have to go to a class for a refresher course in being a good driver, or I have to pay the speeding ticket. In spiritual terms, when we sin, we can do lots of things to deal with that guilty feeling, but at the end of the day, all those remedies only deal with the symptoms. They don’t deal with the guilt. To deal with the guilt, somebody must pay the fine. I have some bad news for you. You are a sinner, so am I, and so is every human being walking the earth. You can’t do enough to pay your debt. I also have good news for you. Jesus Christ was crucified to pay your sin debt. He dealt with your guilt. All you have to do is put your faith and trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1 reminds us, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The word justified means we have been declared “not guilty.” The precious blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin and unrighteousness.
Now that you have been reminded, be blessed and then go be a blessing to someone else . . . Bro. Andy
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