No 19

(Our emotions – guilt)

A common emotional problem confronting Christians is guilt; some feel beaten down and overwhelmed by it. Oftentimes, guilt is felt by the most high-principled and sin-sensitive people. There are two types of guilt – objective and subjective. The first is real; the other is not; it is only a misdirected feeling. The first is judicial and involves the violation of some code or law. The other is emotional and we only feel guilty, whether we did something wrong or not. As Christians, if we disobey one of God’s commandments, we feel guilty because we are guilty (objective guilt). We must face the fact and deal with it – confession “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9). However, subjective guilt is quite another story – an example would be that persons set unrealistic goals for their lives and when they miss the mark, they feel guilty because they failed again. Here are some suggestions that help us deal with the nagging sense of guilt that we may have. They are 1) Revise our expectations. If we have set goals that are too high for us or our family, we must admit our own fallibility; our own humanity and go on from there. 2) Establish a forgiving attitude. We will be surprised if we start forgiving others instead of fault-finding. Perhaps our entourage has adopted this spirit of fault-finding and condemnation. This creates a situation where the main purpose of living is to escape the accusing finger of others rather than obeying God. 3) Walk in obedience to the Lord. If we obey God in our lives, we will a have sense of peace and spiritual well-being; feelings of guilt will disappear. 4) Ask for help in evaluating our circumstances. Sometimes a brother or a sister can help us see what our problem of guilt can be. Don’t forget – the Lord uses His Spirit and His word to speak to us but He also uses godly people.