Summary: Most of us hate guilt, but guilt played a vital role in my life. At first it was torture. There was a time when I couldn’t go to bed sober with my thoughts. The garbage of my life flooded my mind and my heart — the people I’d hurt, the lies I’d told, the abusive relationships, the addictions… Guilt overwhelmed me. But then I gave all of those things over to God. As He revealed to me what I was without Him, I had a choice. I could either continue to live in sin and death, or accept His free gift of New Life. At that point, my guilt and shame became the catalyst that encouraged me to surrender to the Lord. God showed me the sin that separated me from Him. As I cried out in repentance, He lifted that burden from me and replaced it with grace. As it says in Acts 3:19, my sins were “blotted out.” Guilt can be a catalyst for reconciliation in more than one way. Sometimes guilt prompts us to seek forgiveness from someone we’ve wronged, or convicts us to seek justice for others. But overwhelming guilt can consume your life. If you are carrying guilt around like a burden, take it before the Lord today. He wants to use you to reach the world. But first, you need to be made new in Him.
