This is a true struggle for so many Christians. Let me first tell you that you are not alone in this. Satan knows that as a Christian, your soul is off-limits to him. You’ve already been bought by the blood of Christ, so he can’t touch your eternal destiny. However, if he can make you ineffective as a witness for Christ, then he will.
There is a big distinction between conviction and guilt. Conviction is from the Holy Spirit. Guilt is from Satan. Conviction urges you towards righteousness and worship. Guilt presses you into the ground in defeat. Conviction focuses your heart on God. Guilt focuses your heart on yourself.
Read Psalm 51, and you will see the heart of a man under conviction. King David is not wallowing in guilt (self-focused), but rather is praying for forgiveness and a new start, and is praising God for who He is (God-focused).
Each time you find it hard to forgive yourself, open Psalm 51 and pray it to God. Any accusing thoughts you may have that prick your heart during the day, I encourage you to take those thoughts captive and say, “No, I will not live under condemnation!” (Romans 8:1).
Recommended reading: The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning.
Comments (5)
It's so hard to forgive ourselves because we keep remembering everything thing we did, said, thought, and didn't do but wished that we did. We just need to remember that God will forgive us then forget! He loves us with all that he is. He proved that when he let His ONLY son, who was very precious to him, die a gruesome, brutal death so that we can be with Him forever! If that's not love, I don't know WHAT is!!
Posted by Katie | December 3, 2007 12:58 PM
You are right. It is easy to say God loves us and forgives us but not forgive ourselves. That Bible passage was a really good one!
Posted by Jennifer | January 2, 2008 5:36 PM
This really made me feel so much better.
Latly I've been having troulbe trying to stay close to God and I feel so guitly.I ask God's forgivness and I know he;s forgiven me, but I can't seem to forgive myelf.
Posted by Kerin | January 7, 2009 12:22 AM
I heard a pastor preach about this. He said that no where in the Bible does God tell us to forgive ourselves. This was so odd to me! Then he said that if we truly believe that God had forgiven us, we would be able to rest in that.
But, like we just read, Satan likes to attach guilt to us. I have to remind myself that God has the power to wash me clean, so when he forgives me, it's as if it never happened. All that's left is the memory of it to serve as a warning, not a reminder.
Posted by Anonymous | February 11, 2009 11:17 PM
You have NO idea how helpful that was! I struggle with guilt ALL the time. I'll do the 'smallest' (or so everyone else would think) thing wrong and I would beat myself up for days. It was something I was just thinking about... Only a few minutes ago I was wondering if my strong sense of guilt was from God (to help me learn) or from the devil (to tear me down). I was JUST thinking about it- that's how I found this article- I searched the word guilt on the website. So I guess I just need to say that I will not live under condemnation.
I don't know if anyone will read this (seeing as the article is more than a year old) but I'm going to do something really cheesy! And making this a public 'shout' will make me remember and hold to it! Okay here goes....
I WILL NOT LIVE UNDER CONDEMNATION!
It's a statement, a sure statement-
I WILL NOT LIVE UNDER CONDEMNATION
If anyone would like to join with me feel free! Tell us that you won't live under condemnation! Leave a comment!...
God Bless!<3
Posted by Rebecca | April 26, 2009 7:20 AM