Real Guilt Is Priceless

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God

Real guilt is priceless! Yes, I know that may sound strange to you, but please hear me out. It is rare that we are so blessed to feel real guilt for our sin. 

A Christ follower can only experience real guilt when he has exhausted his skill of sidestepping, denial, suppression, blaming, down playing — anything except face up to his sin. When we have exhausted the craftiness of our heart and set every tactic aside, the horrible reality of our guilt meets us head-on.

At that eye-opening moment, we face liberating truth. The old spiritual got it right when it said, “It’s … not my father, not my mother … not my brother, not my sister … not the elder, not the preacher … but it’s me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer.”

An Old Testament story bears this out [read Genesis 37-44]. Joseph’s brothers had committed a great sin. They sold their brother into slavery and let their father believe he had been killed by a wild beast. Through a series of events, they stood before Joseph, now a high-ranking Egyptian official, accused of being spies. 

With great wisdom, Joseph confronted his brothers with this question: “What is this that you have done?” It was Judah, seeing no option but to come clean, who said, “What can we say to my lord? God has uncovered [our] iniquity.”

Their guilt was exposed and they bowed low before Joseph in surrender. What was the result? They were forgiven and fellowship with their brother was restored! 

That’s the way it works, dear Christ follower. When we experience real guilt for our sin, we won’t try to sweep it under a rug. Think about it, where can you hide your sin from our heavenly Father? The best we can do with the real guilt we feel for our sin is to confess it to the Lord. If we do, He is “faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” [1 John 1:9].

Then Judah said, “What can we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how shall we clear ourselves? God has uncovered the iniquity of your servants.” Genesis 44:16