Guilty as Charged!

We’ve all witnessed the court room scene on a T.V. show.  The gavel is slammed down and the judge declares: “Guilty as charged.”  Guilt is an interesting and very misunderstood verdict.

There are two terms that are used synomously but are actually very different in nature.

Think first of the term shame.  It’s not a popular word anymore and we are part of a society that often has no shame.  However, that aside, the word toxic shame is a judgment call upon one’s worth.  These are toxic shame statements: 

I’m no good. 

I am the problem.

I am evil. 

I am worthless.

I am something wrong.

I am a mistake.

I should not exist.

The other term is guilt or guilty.  This is a far trickier term.  We have fallen captive to a subtle but powerful error by defining guilty in terms of a feeling.  In our spiritual walks we traditionally have called this, ‘the conviction of the Holy Spirit.’  Our tradition uses this terms to define the following activity.  When you sin or grieve the Holy Spirit, He makes you feel guilty.  The Holy Spirit comes at you with conviction—making you feel bad—bad enough to stop and repent. 

This is tricky because guilt is not an emotion it is a verdict by a Holy and Just God.  This translates into this disturbing thought:  you can be guilty and not ‘feel’ guilty.  Your or my guilt arises from a judgment from God, not from whether we ‘feel’ badly or ‘convicted.’ 

Think of how often we say:  “Well, if the Lord didn’t want me to _________(you fill in the blank) He would convict me.”  Translation:  Everything I am doing is fine—if it’s not blame God—after all He is the one in charge of making me feel guilty.   No, God is not in charge of making us feel guilty; God is the one in charge of declaring us guilty.  

God has given us the following things to help us understand our guilt.

1. Our conscience.  This is closely aligned with our traditional ‘conviction of the Spirit,’ but it goes deeper.  Our conscience needs to be developed through prayer, renewing our minds, reading scripture, attending public worship etc.  We have an obligation to develop our conscience.
2. Knowledge of God’s Word.  We too, are obligated to search the scriptures, memorize the scriptures, and meditate on the scriptures.
3. Submission to someone more spiritually mature than we are.  “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” Galatians 6:1-3, NIV.  So I purposefully seek counsel and accountability to others who have a higher degree of spiritual maturity than I do.
4. Regular interaction with a body of believers who love us, care for us, rebuke us, and help us mature into fully developed followers of Jesus.                                                         But now, quickly why all the fuss?  Who really cares?  What’s the big deal?

The big deal is Father’s love and level of intimacy which He wants us to enjoy.  He is not up in heaven waiting to bang down His gavel.  He is the Father waiting for us to come to our senses, get out of the pig pen of our sin—and come running home into His loving arms.  He wants to throw us a party—and we are guilty of sin—feeding the pigs.