The Guilt Conversation

A walk through the halls of the Bank of Evil... with Gru. (Despicable Me)

Most of the time, we miss out on the abundance of GOD because we spend our energy in the guilt conversation.  We become our own joy-stealer, engaging in an internal mental debate that only brings us more hurt, discouragement and diminished self-worth. It weighs down heavily on us and is a burden that we were never meant to carry.

Why? Because guilt is not of GOD. Guilt is not productive and it does not bring about peace.

"God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again."

John 3:17

It starts when we try to rationalise the choices that we make that we know are not of GOD (aka sin). When we know something is not right, we are being convicted. When we start to argue against it, we enter the guilt conversation and we begin to feel guilty.  We become susceptible to feelings of worry, our patience wears thin and this is where we lose our joy!

I believe that whilst guilt is a conversation, conviction is a statement.  The Holy Spirit convicts us, attempting to put an end to the sin spiral as it starts, before it gains any momentum... but then, instead of dealing with it,  we decide to strike up a conversation.

When we're in this conversation we are unable to fully encounter and engage with GOD in our worship.  Like Adam and Eve, our bad decisions cause us to hide from GOD, to worship in spirit, but not in truth. Guilt becomes the elephant in the room that we don't want to talk about.

GOD wants us to seek Him in worship AND FIND HIM.  Just like the scene from the garden, GOD is looking for us, He is right there, just on the other side of the proverbial bushes.  We don't need to hide and we don't need to keep having the guilt conversation.  This, is Grace.  This is why Jesus died.  So that we could stop having the guilt conversation.

May I encourage you, that whatever is burdening your heart today, decide in your mind first that you are going to deal with it.  Do this everyday until you start to feel different, then you know that you're on a journey with GOD and not just having a conversation with yourself!