Guilty Conscience

So many of us go through life loaded with guilt. I have. You have. We all have. I think you would agree that guilt is no fun.

With my experience of working at a bank, I have seen a variety of attempts at fraud. One day, a white car came through the drive through with two women in it who were looking to cash a check. The person I was working with was researching whether she could give out the money or not. She was just about to cash the check when she noticed something. The signature did not match. We thought that was weird, so we examined it again. Nope. No match. She called the account holder to see why the signature didn't match while I stalled the people in the white car. The account holder said that he did not write the check, so we asked if he would like us to call the police. "Yes, please," he said. First we saw one police car. Then two police cars. Then three. Then four. Then, unbelievably, five police cars in our drive through. One of the women took off running and made it across the street before she was caught. They both were handcuffed and taken off to prison for fraud.

These ladies were not being true to who they really were. They were lying.

The writer of Hebrews teaches us to "draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith" (Hebrews 10:22-23). The Greek word for "true" means the "opposite to what is fictitious, counterfeit, imaginary, simulated or pretended." Just like the people committing fraud were not true to who they were, sometimes we aren't true to who we are with God. Especially when we sin, we feel uncomfortable drawing near to God. We then start feeling guilty. If you think about it, guilt can be a good thing. If it draws you near to God and you agree with Him that our sin is terrible, it can be a good thing.

The next few words in that verse say, "having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience" (Hebrews 10:22-23). Whether your sins are pre-salvation or post-salvation, you can be free from guilt. I promise. I have experiential knowledge about this topic. At times, I feel like I fail God every day. If you feel like this too, remember as long as you come back to confess your sins to Jesus, you can be forgiven. We can still walk with confidence too, because it is not us that we're preaching, but Jesus.

Manage your emotions and don't believe them over what God's Word says. If you come to Him, He will forgive you and purify you (1 John 1:9). Now get back up (Proverbs 24:16) and, with the power that God will give you, reject false guilt.