How should a Christian deal with feelings of guilt regarding past sins?

How should a Christian deal with feelings of guilt? We're going to answer that question. Everyone has sinned, and one of the results of sin is guilt. We can be thankful for guilty feelings because they drive us to seek forgiveness.

Forgiveness, Repentance, and Guilt After Salvation

The moment a person turns from sin to Jesus Christ, in faith, his sin is forgiven. Repentance is part of the faith that leads to salvation. In Christ, even the most heinous sins are blotted out. Salvation is by grace, and grace forgives.

After a person is saved, he will still sin, and when he does, God still promises forgiveness. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense. Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

Freedom from sin, however, does not always mean freedom from guilty feelings, because we still remember them. We have a spiritual enemy called the accuser of our brothers who relentlessly reminds us of our failures, faults, and sins.

Confession and Self-Examination

When a Christian experiences feelings of guilt, he or she should do the following things. Confess all known, previously unconfessed sin. In some cases, feelings of guilt are appropriate because confession is needed.

Many times we feel guilty because we are guilty. Ask the Lord to reveal any other sin that may need confessing. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Restitution, False Guilt, and Moving On in Christ

Seek to make restitution, where possible, of the sins committed against others. Zacchaeus, in repenting of his sin, promised the Lord, If I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.

Trust the promise of God that He will forgive sin and remove guilt based on the blood of Christ. On occasions when guilty feelings arise over sins already confessed and forsaken, reject such feelings as false guilt.

The Lord has been true to His promise to forgive. Ask the Lord to rebuke Satan, your accuser, and ask the Lord to restore the joy that comes with freedom from guilt. A perfect biblical case study would be King David.

He sinned terribly but found freedom from both sin and guilty feelings. Study Psalm 32 and 51. Finally, if sin has been confessed, repented of, and forgiven, it is time to move on. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has gone, the new has come. Part of the old which has gone is the remembrance of past sins and the guilt they produced. Sadly, some Christians are prone to wallowing in their memories of their former sinful lives, memories which should have been dead and buried long ago.

This is pointless and runs counter to the victorious Christian life God wants for us. A wise saying is, if God has saved you out of a sewer, don't dive back in and swim around. That answers the question, how should a Christian deal with feelings of guilt?

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