Daily Good News – Forgiven and Free From Guilt

Jul 26, 2015 1099

 

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear (1 John 4:18).

The psychological phenomenon of guilt is a familiar to most people. There are many explanations for guilt. Generally it is agreed that guilt is a deep-rooted unease, springing from fear of not being sufficiently esteemed, approved or believed by others. Some of these apprehensions are based in the reality that we have indeed failed people; we have let them down. More importantly, they stand on the fact that by so doing, we have fallen short of God’s ideal for his children in all their relationships. Guilt of this kind is true and appropriate.

The angst resulting from a sense of being at odds with the will of God has a tragic spin-off in human life. It can translate into a desperate search for approval from other people. We feel judged by them for no reason that we can think of; we may try too hard to make them like us. While it may be true that there is not enough love in the world, those plagued by this kind of ‘neediness’ would still feel guilty no matter how much kindness they were shown. In such an insecure climate of personal relationships, love becomes a ‘currency’ with which men and women learn to trade for their psychological requirements.

More than anything, the human race needs to believe in the existence of a universal love, a cosmic good will toward men, a unilateral approval from the Creator, so that they can live out their lives in the certainty that, despite shortcomings, failures, offences and mistakes, they are forgiven, valued, and eternally loved. Such a final assurance has been spoken to humankind by Jesus Christ. To know that we are loved, unconditionally, eternally, passionately, is to be liberated from the crippling effects of guilt, and the self-loathing that accompanies all forms of rejection.

 

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