“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
Isaiah 1:18 NIV
‘Houston, we have a problem.’
Those words, misquoted from Jim Lovell, the mission commander of Apollo 13, in the movie that dramatised its return to earth, became something of a cultural zeitgeist after the movie was released.
Let me tell you, generations of people are now echoing those words.
To our profound shock and disdain, modern technology can emotionlessly recall every misdemeanour committed on TV, on the internet, on social media and even on some apparently private internet messenger apps. This had led to those who have committed these offences being ‘cancelled’, losing job opportunities and potentially their livelihood, and, in some cases, being on trial for criminal offences.
Add this to the natural judgemental approach that every generation has to the generations that preceded it and you have a highly combustible nightmare.
Now, I'm not saying this is always a bad thing. There are things that were tolerated in previous times and places that should not have been tolerated because they were morally wrong.
However, this atmosphere can lead to crippling and overwhelming feelings of guilt.
Again, I'm not talking about generational guilt, or so-called ‘white guilt’, or anything of that ilk. I’m talking about real feelings of guilt and shame over things we have personally said (or not said) or done (or not done).
Guilt is a bit like fear. In certain contexts it is the appropriate response that can drive us to our knees to the Lord for forgiveness, which is right and proper.
But it can become debilitating and overwhelming if we don’t manage it and deal with it properly.
It’s for good reason that the devil is called ‘the accuser of the brethren’ (Revelation 12:10-11), because there is no quicker way to render a Christian ineffective than to burden them with unnecessary guilt for past sins and make them feel so bad about themselves that they become convinced that they cannot be forgiven.
I’m aware of trite, simplistic statements that say things like ‘If the devil reminds you of your past, remind him of his future’, and so on. But what if your sin was five minutes ago? Or five seconds? How do you handle the guilt then?
Allow me to give you four pieces of advice to help you handle past guilt, however long or not-long ago it was.
Number 1: Face it. Don’t deny it. Don’t make a legally-watertight statement through your lawyer. Don’t plead the Fifth Amendment. Don’t run or hid from it.
Face it. No matter how painful. No matter how hard. No matter the sin.
Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
Proverbs 28:13 NIV
You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.
Psalms 90:8 NIV
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
1 John 1:5-10 NIV
They say that if you ever stumble across a grizzly bear in the forest, you should never run. If you back away slowly until out of sight, he might not perceive you as a threat or prey and might leave you. If you run, he will come after you.
And grizzly bears are fast. You cannot outrun them.
Likewise, there is little point trying to outrun the consequences of your own personal sin. As Moses taught the Israelites, your sin will find you out (Numbers 32:23).
Now, I am not saying that this is easy. Far from it, this can often be very difficult. It may even require therapy or counselling for us to face it. We may find that we agree with the Israelites of Ezekiel’s day:
“Son of man, say to the Israelites, ‘This is what you are saying: “Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?” ’
Ezekiel 33:10 NIV
But it is of the utmost importance that we live in the light and see our sins as they are, however repulsive.
Because when we have the courage to face what we have done, there is no way we will want to repeat it.
Number 2: Feel it.
Nowadays, it seems that the mantra for all of us is to ‘do whatever makes you happy’.
That might sound nice, but it just doesn’t stand up to any kind of examination.
In reality, there are times when we have to do what makes us sad because it’s for our good.
Repentance is one of those things. Because proper repentance, real and lasting repentance, involves pain over what we have done. Look at what Paul wrote to the Corinthians, after having some very difficult discussions with them over flagrant sins that were being committed in their church:
Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
2 Corinthians 7:10 NIV
ttps://2corinthians.bible/2-corinthians-7-10
Even Jesus said this in the Beattitudes, in a context many commentators believe refers to sorrow over sin:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Matthew 5:3-4 NIV
Look at what David wrote after his dreadful sin with Bathsheba, which also involved the killing of her husband, was exposed:
My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.
Psalms 51:17 NIV
Sorrow over sin – and our own sin in particular – is a necessary part of repentance. It acts as a deterrent. As I said earlier, there is a natural part of us that wants to do whatever makes us happy. But the issue is that often what makes us temporarily happy is sin. That is why we do it. Sorrow over that sin is a deterrent because the temporary ‘high’ of sin soon gives way to a longer term ‘low’ of sorrow. This sorrow drives us to repent – not just to say we’re sorry, but to resolve to not do that sin again.
So if we reject this emotion, if we turn away from the sorrow that comes from being convicted of our own sin, then we condemn ourselves to repeat it all over again.
However, there are a few things we need to notice about this.
Firstly, this type of sorrow is specific. It is focused on an actual sin that we have committed. It is not, ‘Lord, I’m sorry that I am so sinful.’
That is too vague. The whole purpose of feeling sorrow over sin is so that you can repent of it. But what can you repent over it if you are not sorrowful over something specific?
We must feel sorrowful over specific things that we ourselves have done wrong. Otherwise, how can we repent?
Secondly it is measured.
Yes, even the tiniest sin is an offence before God. Yes, Christ was sent to the cross for when our most insignificant thought.
But every legal system in the world – including the one set up by God – agrees that there is a world of difference between robbing a bank and stealing a biscuit.
Our sorrow must be proportional, both in depth and longevity, to the crime and its effects.
We should not go around in sackcloth and ashes for a small mistake that affected no-one of which we can quickly repent. Similarly, we should not take lightly serious sins that have harmed other people. If we do either of these, then we are guilty of straining gnats and swallowing camels, just like the Pharisees and Sadducees (Matthew 23:23-24).
The time must fit the crime.
Thirdly, it is genuine.
Sorrow because we got caught will not produce repentance. Just as likely, it will cause us to look for ways to avoid getting caught.
Sorrow because we are facing the severe consequences of our sin will not produce repentance. Just as likely, it will cause us to appeal or try to mitigate the consequences.
‘But isn’t this what happened with David?’ you might ask. ‘After all, he showed no signs of remorse until Nathan confronted him.’
Yes, that is true, but in Psalm 51 he shows a realisation that he has offended and hurt God (see verse 4).
Offence and pain caused to God and others, violating the command to love them, is the only right and true cause of real sorrow that leads to repentance.
Fourthly, it is purposeful. Its purpose is to lead us to confession and repentance. Its purpose is for us to grow closer to God.
It is not to mitigate punishment. It is not to elicit sympathy.
Neither is it just to feel bad for the purpose of feeling bad.
Its sole purpose is to lead us to mend the relationships our sin has broken, with God and with other people.
And without it, repentance is not repentance.
Number 3: Forgive it.
Forgiveness is central to the Christian faith. It’s even in the Lord’s prayer:
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Matthew 6:12 NIV
Jesus taught it in His most challenging of parables (Matthew 18:23-35).
However, we must also forgive ourselves.
I find it interesting that many preachers are firm on the need to love God and each other, but forget the third dimension of loving others as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:29-31).
It isn’t possible to love others without loving ourselves.
Likewise, it will be very difficult to forgive others if we are hard and unforgiving on ourselves.
So here’s how this works.
The Bible teaches clearly that we have forgiveness through the blood of Christ shed on the cross (Matthew 26:28; Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 1:13-14).
So we have been forgiven at an enormous cost.
But what are we saying? Are we saying that God can forgive us, but somehow the blood of Christ is not enough for us to forgive ourselves?
Are we saying that God will not count our sins against us (Psalm 32:1-2), but we will?
Are we saying that God might have removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:8-12), but we still hold them against us?
Surely that is foolishness!
When Christ died on the cross, He paid the price for all our sins. He bore the punishment we deserved (Isaiah 53:4-6).
It makes no sense at all to beat ourselves up over them. They are paid for! They are forgiven!
Let them go! God has forgiven you, so forgive yourself.
Number 4: Forget it!
Look at these glorious words:
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
Jeremiah 31:33-34 NIV
ttps://bible.com/bible/111/jer.31.33-34.NIV
Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.
Micah 7:18-19 NIV
“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
Isaiah 1:18 NIV
The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
Psalms 103:8-12 NIV
There is no reason to allow the memory of past sins and failings to haunt you and taunt you.
Forget them. God has.
The psalmist said this:
If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.
Psalms 130:3-4 NIV
But what does this mean?
There is an old joke about a worker in a matchmaking factory. The story goes that his boss came up to him one day and said to him, ‘There have been complaints. Everyone who has received a box of matches you have made says that they are useless. Why is that?’
The worker was confused. ‘But sir, I tested them all and they worked fine for me...’
Our sins must be like the stub of a match. Yes, we remember them in the sense that we remember the pain and offence they caused and we recoil from them so we will not so them again. But we do not allow their memory to strike up a flame of regret and unforgiveness that will consume our faith and destroy our life.
God has, in His divine grace, forgotten them. So should we.
Think about it: if anyone had a good reason to keep a close account of even our tiniest sin, it’s God. Those sins cost the violent death of His Son, Jesus Christ!
Yet even He chooses to forget.
So, Christian, why don’t you?
Let me tell you something else we should forget, by way of a personal illustration. I was brought up in a Christian family in a tough neighbourhood. In my teens and twenties, still bearing the scars from what I had experienced, I realised that I could use this tough upbringing to my advantage. It got me sympathy and respect from those who heard me. It got me a certain leeway and allowances from people around me. I could use this to gain friends and influence, and, who knows? Maybe even a wife.
Well, something good has to come out of seventeen years of pain, right?
Yes, but not like that.
God took me to countries where people had a much tougher upbringing, where people were much poorer, where their start in life was way more challenging.
Suddenly my ‘I’ve had it tough’ card wasn’t so strong.
I quickly came to the conclusion that it was useless.
Why use it to gain friends and influence? Why not do something more productive instead, like concentrating on being a righteous person and a good friend? Why not concentrate on how Christ-like I am now?
Christian, and I mean this with all the love and respect in the world: forget the past. Move on. Don’t live your life staring in the rear view mirror. It always makes objects look closer than they are. Look through the windshield. You have a glorious future.
They say that ‘those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them’. I also like Einstein’s famous quote: ‘The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results’.
Our past was not given to us to be a stumbling stone or a millstone around our neck. No, it was given to be a stepping stone to better things. We stand on it. We do not let it crush us.
Jesus says this:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30 NIV
Your past – be it good or bad – is not a burden you were designed to carry. Bring it to Jesus. Lay it down at His feet. Leave it there.
God promises this in Isaiah:
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
Isaiah 43:18-19 NIV
Could God do this with your past?
Paul also says:
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:12-14 NIV
Isn’t it time you let go of your past and grasped on tightly to the glorious future God has for you in Jesus Christ?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, Your grace overwhelms me. Thank You for forgiving and forgetting my past. Help me to let it go and grab a hold of all You have for me. Amen.
Questions
1. Are there aspects of your past that bother you? What are they? Bring them to the Lord.
2. What are the four pieces of advice to help us handle past guilt? How do they apply to your situation?
3. What happens when we lay the burden of our past at Jesus’ feet? Are you willing to do this?
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