‚Am I even to blame? There's nothing wrong with me‘. The Bible says: „Man considers everything he does to be right, but God scrutinises his motives.“ (Proverbs 21:1) We can only gain by examining our situation. What feelings and sensations do we have when we think of guilt? Guilt can weigh heavily on us. We can be afraid that things will come to light that are unpleasant for us. Yes, guilt can really scare us, it can destroy our health, our happiness, even our lives. But we can take courage. Every debt can be taken from us. God says: „Though your sin be as red as blood, it shall be as white as snow.“ (Isa. 1:18 LU) 

Everyone can know: I can be free by God's grace, because Jesus promised: „If the Son of God makes you free, then you are free indeed.“ (Joh. 8,36 GNÜ) This can happen today, now, in a prayer. Some suggestions for prayers are included. Above all, let us remember: Jesus is the victor. He also wants to give you victory.

Many people carry burdens with them, e.g: Guilt, injuries, addictions, occult burdens. This is detrimental to health, well-being and often also to interpersonal relationships. This is not God's will for us. Jesus says: „I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.“ (Joh. 10,10b KÜ) This includes:

1. That I carry no burden from the past. Jesus says: „Come to me and I will take the burden off you.“ (Matth. 11, 28b GNT) In his love, God wants to relieve us of our burdens. We can live without burdens of the past.
2. That I'm not worried about the future. God is ready to take care of us.
3. That I live in the present, today, in friendship with him, equipped with his strength. „Do not torment yourselves with thoughts of tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. You have enough to bear today's burden.“ (Matthew 6:34); „I ask him [God] to give you gifts from the riches of his glory and to strengthen you inwardly by his Spirit.“ (Eph. 3:16 GNT)

We will look at an example of serious guilt later. The person in question suffered greatly from his guilt. He was then freed from it in one fell swoop and was certain that he had been forgiven.

Guilt is similar to cancer. Cancer - guilt - can develop imperceptibly or cause severe pain. It also forms metastases. But there is a marvellous doctor. Jesus is the great physician who can also deal with cancer - guilt. He tells us: „If the Son of God makes you free, then you are free indeed.“ (Joh. 8,36 GNÜ) Jesus is victorious over every adversity!

The Bible says: „Sin is the transgression of the law“ (1 John 3:4 LU) i.e. disobedience. The law of God, the Ten Commandments, is also behind many human orders (state, parents, etc.). Transgression results in guilt. It does not matter whether someone recognises God and the Bible or not. Because in modern terms: We are programmed accordingly. The Bible also speaks of sin as „rebellion“, „revolt“ or „missing the mark“. Other biblical terms for sin are „unbelief“, „mistrust“ or „straying from the right path“. Guilt is the Consequence of sin.

One problem is that you can get used to sin like bad air. You no longer notice it. That's why many people think: I'm not a sinner, I'm a proper person! But the Bible says: „If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.“ (1 John 1:8 KJV) Yes, we are all sinners without exception.¹

What is the difference between sin and guilt?

„Sin lies in the past. At some point, we have behaved wrongly, committed an injustice ... and thus made ourselves guilty of a sin. How long does a sin last? How long does it take to steal, commit adultery or read the cards? It takes a few minutes, maybe an hour; in any case, the time span of a sinful act is relatively short.

How long does the debt last? Guilt is present - we suffer from the consequences and effects of our sin - often for a lifetime. What crushes us is not so much the sin, the wrong action that happened within a very short time - we suffer intensely from the consequences of our sin, we suffer from the guilt, from the burden. The good news is: Jesus Christ not only forgives sin - my sin „crushed“ him, it cost him his life. Jesus alone is able to cancel the guilt in my life.“

¹ According to Kurt Hasel „Mit Gott fernsehen“, Drei Schritte zum Himmel, (Ravensburg 1965)

How can guilt arise?

• Jesus shows us that this is the core of sin, „that they do not trust me“ (John 16:9 GNT) i.e. the core sin is to live independently of God. God wants to save us from sin (1 John 5:18). Sinful thoughts, attitudes and deeds follow from life without God - that is, without full devotion to him and being equipped with his power. Many do not trust Jesus Christ out of ignorance or because they have misconceptions about Him. I also had a problem with devotion to God until I realised that God is love. Then I immediately entrusted my whole life to him. Today I give thanks for decades of his wonderful guidance.
• Furthermore, guilt arises from doing wrong - i.e. active wrongdoing.
• Guilt arises through failure to do the right thing - i.e. Passive by omission.
• Guilt arises through Wrong reaction. In other words, I respond to injustice that I experience or that I believe to be injustice by doing injustice to others according to the motto: As you do unto me, so shall I do unto you.

² Kurt Hasel, Zauber des Aberglaubens, 17th German expanded edition 2007, (NewStartCenter, Raich) p. 74

- Guilt also arises from not forgiving injustice suffered. Jesus said in the Lord's Prayer: „Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive everyone who trespasses against us.“ (Matth. 6:12 GNT) „But when you pray, forgive those around you if you have anything against them, so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.“ (Mk 11:25 GNT) I want to write to you about that next time. ⁴ Perhaps someone is waiting for your forgiveness. Possibly even close relatives.

What are feelings of guilt?

A feeling of guilt is a warning signal. The signal alerts me: check the situation!

There are real and false feelings of guilt. The real ones are a consequence of transgressing God's commandments: guilt and the feeling of guilt go hand in hand here.

There are also feelings of guilt without real guilt. For example, there was a church commandment that you must not eat meat on Friday. Many who did so nevertheless felt guilty. But there was no real guilt because no commandment of God had been broken.

Freedom from guilt and feelings of guilt is necessary for our health, our happiness and our relationships.

⁴ Article: “Do you have something against someone? Grant forgiveness - forgiveness liberates both”

Change view:
Some people try to free themselves from guilt and feelings of guilt by changing their view of what is right and wrong. We have certainly all grown up with the conviction that it is wrong to lie. Now we can tell ourselves that lying is perhaps necessary in certain circumstances. It may be that the feelings of guilt disappear as a result. Where do they disappear to? Into our subconscious. There they continue to have a destructive effect. If we do this more often, we will pay a high price because we will lose our direction in life. This path does not bring true liberation.

An exception would be if my behaviour was really based on a wrong view. In the religious sphere, there are many feelings of guilt without real guilt due to human commandments. Example: In one religion, it is commanded to pray five times a day at certain times. Only a few manage to do this. Those who fail to do so feel guilty, even though there is no real guilt, because there is no corresponding commandment from God.

We can have feelings of guilt because of our upbringing, because our parents perhaps did not recognise the difference between God's commandments and human commandments. This shows us from a completely different perspective how important it is that we only orientate ourselves on God's word. The commandments of men burden our lives.

Jesus says: „All their worship is meaningless, for they teach only commandments devised by men.“ (Mk 7:7 GNT)

God has not allowed anyone to add to or take away from his commandments. „I testify to everyone who hears the prophetic words of this book: If anyone adds to them, God will bring upon him all the plagues of which it is written in this book. And if anyone takes anything away from the words of this prophetic book, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, of which it is written in this book.“ (Rev 22:18, 19 KJV) God's commandments are reasonable and an expression of his love. In them we have a good, genuine and correct standard for our lives.

Displacement:
Another way that many people try to cope with guilt is to suppress it. This means that we blunt or ignore our conscience. It may be that the feeling of guilt disappears in this way. But the guilt remains and works in the subconscious. It can surface as anxiety, as a stomach ulcer, as high blood pressure, as binge eating and drinking. As a rule, the real cause of these problems is no longer recognised, because they have been suppressed with apparent success, and so healing, i.e. the elimination of the emotional and physical disorders, is not possible for the time being.

What else happens: The warning system, my conscience, which tells me where I am guilty, suffers damage. This means that the control system for truth and error in my life is disrupted or destroyed. This interrupts or disrupts my development into a mature, responsible person.

You can switch off the warning signal by ignoring it, drowning it out, deafening it; you can also switch it off by escaping into pleasure or work or even selfless service.

Penance:
Another solution to guilt that some people try is to eliminate guilt through atonement. Some people hope to become free of guilt by undergoing a punishment or performing atoning acts. Even in this way, the guilt remains. Suppose someone has stolen € 100 from you. Now his conscience weighs heavily on him. So he makes a donation to the Red Cross. Is that the end of the matter? Would you, as the person who was robbed, be satisfied with this solution? Does that mean the guilt is gone? No. It is necessary to return the €100 to the victim. That is part of the release from this debt. My guilt is only completely eliminated when the damaged relationship of trust with the person who has been robbed is restored through a frank dialogue and proof of my trustworthiness. Guilt has to do with the destruction of trust. Guilt is outwardly the transgression of a law, but in reality it is guilt against people. It is becoming guilty of loving God and one's neighbour.

Confession and forgiveness have to do with the restoration of trust. We will come back to this point later.

Deportation:
Another way is deportation. I worked for some time in prison chaplaincy on the side. I looked after individual prisoners in a high-security prison. There are only „tough guys“ in such a facility. What amazed me was that almost all of them thought they were innocent. They blamed their father, mother, company or the state. The problem is that if we don't take responsibility for our actions, we won't be free of guilt.

Many people try to get rid of their guilt and feelings of guilt by blaming others. This is an old path. Even Adam and Eve took it. Blaming others seems to be an easy way to escape our own responsibility. Perhaps our feelings of guilt are gone. But the guilt remains, and it is even increased by the additional injustice of blaming someone else. The consequences affect our character, our health and our interpersonal relationships.

We summarise:
These paths only lead to false solutions. Because the guilt remains and affects our character and our lives like cancer. Many people are half sick and half well. Unresolved guilt can play a part in this. I am very grateful that a doctor, Dr Winfried Müller, drew our attention - a group of pastors - to these important connections. Psychologists have clearly recognised the problem of guilt and its consequences. But science has no real solution.

King David had committed adultery with Bathsheba. She became pregnant. In order to conceal the consequences, he cunningly plotted to murder Uriah, her husband. The plan succeeded.

David avoided confessing his guilt. He describes how he felt during this time:

„Let all those whom God has forgiven their wrongs and covered their transgressions rejoice! Everyone whose guilt is not imputed by the Lord and whose life is free from falsehood may rejoice!

Lord, at first I wanted to conceal my guilt, but it made me so ill that I could only moan from morning till night. I felt your hand day and night; it pressed me to the ground, draining my vitality as in the worst summer drought. That's why I decided to confess my transgressions to you. I confessed to you what I had done; I no longer concealed my guilt from you. And you - you forgave me everything!“ (Psalm 32:1-5, GNT)

These verses describe the true path to deliverance. David confessed his guilt. A hundredweight burden fell from him. Those who bear guilt can know that God's loving forgiveness is also ready for them without waiting. For God's word tells us: „I have forgiven all your guilt; it has disappeared like the mist before the sun. Turn to me, for I will set you free.“ (Isa. 44, 22 GNT)

David could only be freed from his burden when he took responsibility for his sin. We should definitely do the same. We should lose no time in putting them right with God's help and becoming free. If we have difficulties with this, we can ask for help in prayer. Note: „If we claim that we have never been guilty, we make God a liar, and his word does not live in us.“ (1 John 1:10 GNT) We can pray:

Prayer for taking responsibility

Please pray the following prayers out loud. This will help us to concentrate much better. We do not need to include the text in brackets in our prayer. May I suggest this for all prayers?

Bible translations used:
GNÜ The Good News and GNB Good News Bible, German Bible Society and Kath. Bibelwerk e.V., Stuttgart
LU Luther translation 1972, Austrian Bible Society
Hfa Hope for all, Fontis-Brunnen-Basel
KÜ Kürzinger translation, Pattloch-Verlag, Aschaffenburg

Let's take a closer look at the real path of forgiveness:

„Let all those whom God has forgiven their wrongs and covered their transgressions rejoice.“ (Psalm 32:1 GNT) Our happiness in life, our health and our interpersonal relationships have to do, among other things, with the forgiveness of our guilt. Because of God's love, we can lead a joyful, powerful life without guilt. I hope that everyone can enjoy this status.

„Let everyone rejoice whose iniquity is not imputed by the Lord and whose life is free from deceit!“ (Psalm 32:2 GNT) God doesn't say: „Sponge over it!“ or „Half as bad!“ or „Once is not twice!“ No: guilt is there. But it is no longer imputed to me.

No offsetting of debt -how?

When Jesus came to him to be baptised by immersion in the Jordan, John the Baptist said:

„This is the sacrificial lamb of God, who takes away the guilt of the whole world.“ (Joh. 1,29 GNÜ)

Jesus gave his life on the cross as a sacrifice to take on the guilt of us all. This offer applies to all people who trust Jesus: „God loved mankind so much that he gave his only Son. Now everyone who puts his trust in the Son of God will not perish but live forever.“ (John 3:16 GNT)

Trusting Jesus means entering into a close relationship of trust with him, following him. „A personal relationship with Jesus Christ is the greatest privilege and the greatest fulfilment a person can ever experience.“ ⁵

God is love. He asks us to believe in Jesus Christ, to trust him. ⁶ Jesus takes away the guilt of all those who accept the offer of his love. This means that our guilt is imputed to Jesus and no longer to us.

If a boy shoots a ball into a window and the pane breaks, he will surely be forgiven and the father will pay for the pane. Here is an important lesson. The one who takes the blame - the father - must pay, i.e. he suffers. He who assumes guilt suffers for the guilty party. Jesus can and wants to forgive us. He suffered and paid for your and my debt on the cross. Every debt only has to be paid once. After that, there is no more.

⁵ Dr W. Bright, God's Love and Forgiveness - How to Experience It? (Neuhausen, 1971) p. 9.
⁶ In the article „What is the main concern of the Bible?“ the meaning of ‚believe‘ in the sense of the Bible is explained in detail with examples.

What should we do?

„Let all the people of Israel know that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, Lord and Saviour of the world. This word struck the listeners right in the heart and they asked Peter and the other apostles: ‚Brothers, what shall we do?‘ Peter replied: ‚Repent now and make a new start! Let us all be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ! Then God will forgive your sins and give you his Holy Spirit. ‘ (Acts 2:36-38 GNT)

How is all my guilt transferred to Jesus Christ? Through repentance and baptism. The Bible understands „repentance“ (formerly „repentance“) to mean ‚changing one's mind‘. In other words, I change my attitude and my actions. Repentance is characterised by the fact that we decide to make a new start. We begin to trust Jesus and the Word of God more and more. We express this decision in prayer.

Prayer for repentance

Please pray out loud!

We may ask our God for repentance - divine sorrow - for our sin. „For the sorrow [repentance] wrought by God leads to repentance and brings salvation. And who should ever regret that. Only sorrow that does not lead to repentance causes death.“ (2 Cor. 7:10 Hfa)

God gives us the gift of self-recognition of sin. We face up to this painful realisation and allow God to lead us to genuine repentance. Repentance is a pain, a regret for our own wrong actions and omissions. We are sorry that we have hurt our Lord as a result. It is connected with the intention to make amends if necessary and the firm intention not to do the same again with God's help.

The best swap

When we accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour, we express our trust in him. This is the best exchange. He takes on the guilt of our entire life and gives us his righteousness (his righteous, obedient, sinless life). This is a gift that no one has to pay for or can pay for. It is the highest expression of love that Jesus died as an innocent man for us who are guilty. Anyone who lives in a close personal relationship with Jesus has had their guilt taken away. As valuable as this is, it is only part of what Jesus means to us. He said: „I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.“ (John 10:10b KJV) In life with him, I have a valuable life here and eternal life as well.

Because there are more questions, let's go back to David; he prayed: „Lord, at first I wanted to conceal my guilt, but it made me so ill that I could only moan from morning till night. I felt your hand day and night; it crushed me to the ground, draining away my vitality as in the worst summer drought.“ (Ps 32:3.4 GNT)

Guilt is a burden and can make us ill. If something is weighing you down, don't wait any longer. Why should you continue to carry an unnecessary burden? Jesus loves you and is waiting to help you. God says:

„Though your sin be as red as blood, it shall be as white as snow; though it be as scarlet, it shall be as wool.“ (Isa. 1:18 LU)

David made the only right decision. „That is why I decided to confess my transgressions to you. I confessed to you what I had done; I no longer concealed my guilt from you. And you - you have forgiven me everything!“ (Ps. 32:5 GNT)

David had suppressed confession. How did he finally come to recognise his sin? The prophet Nathan visited him and showed him his guilt through a parable (2 Sam. 12). This led David to take responsibility for his actions. Absolute honesty with ourselves leads to honest confession. We now call our sin by its unvarnished name. The more fully I recognise and acknowledge my mistakes, the greater the experience of liberation from the burden of guilt.

Confession is linked to our request for forgiveness and release from our guilt. Forgiveness from God or from a fellow human being is usually only granted in response to a request for forgiveness. Often the simple words: „I am sorry“ are enough to re-establish the interrupted contact.

However, my request for forgiveness is only genuine if I do not set any conditions and am also prepared to accept the full consequences of my actions. We also refrain from apportioning blame, even if the other person is partly to blame. Our confession without apportioning blame often triggers a confession of our own.

When David was finally ready to confess his sin to God, he received immediate and complete forgiveness of his guilt. That is incredible. We have a wonderful God. God is love. He wants to give us a valuable life in health and happiness. He wants to accompany us as a friend. He leads me step by step along the best path in life for me and equips me with strength to do so.

David was forgiven through his confession. This restored the fellowship with God that he had previously had, the relationship of trust. Jesus Christ took over David's guilt. Before this event, David had led a wonderful life of faith and had great experiences with God. But when he was doing very well for a long time, he became lukewarm, and that's when this incredible sin happened. But God held on to David, and David also held on to God. So he had a God who took away his guilt when he confessed. Having been forgiven makes us happy and strong again.

Every sin is a sin against God

David had committed adultery and murder. When he confessed his sin, he prayed: „Against yourself [against God] I have transgressed.“ (Psalm 51:6 GNT)

How is this to be understood, since he sinned with Bathsheba and against Uriah? Every sin against people is also a sin against God, because we have transgressed his commandment.

Why is this thought important? David could no longer ask Uriah for forgiveness. He was dead. But he could ask God for forgiveness and receive it. This idea is so important because I can receive forgiveness even if the person I am guilty of is no longer alive or cannot be found, or even if he does not want to forgive. Because our sins are fundamentally directed against God, we can receive forgiveness through his grace in any case.

Every sin must be confessed to God, as in every case of sin a commandment of God has been transgressed. Sins that are directed against God alone (including thought sins against people) are to be confessed to God alone. If one or more people are affected, confession to them is also necessary. Sin should always be purged within the circle of those affected, not beyond this circle.

Reparation

If compensation of a material nature is necessary, we should be generous because the other person was unable to dispose of their property for a while.

„And if I say to a man, “You must die', and he turns away from injustice, returns his pledge to the poor debtor, makes restitution for what he has unlawfully taken, and keeps the instructions that lead to life, then he does not have to die. All the wrongs he has done in the past will no longer count. Because he now does what is right, he will live." (Ezek. 33:14-16 GNT)

Jesus helps us to reorganise our lives. I have always confessed my sins to God first. If I still had something to confess to a person afterwards, I asked God to influence their attitude. He did it in every case. No one ever put me down. My trust in myself was not only restored, but in almost every case it was considerably strengthened. The painful process of confessing is also a great help in not doing the same thing again.

We can call on God for help in reorganising our lives. There are great experiences. He often helps, but not always. If it is better for the guilty party in his eyes, then he lets him suffer the consequences. Jim Vaus had committed perjury. This landed a policeman in prison. When Jim Vaus converted, he unreservedly confessed all his sins, including this perjury. He informed the court of this in writing and gave a copy to the newspaper so that the police officer could be vindicated in the eyes of the public. At the trial - perjury is punishable by a maximum security prison sentence in almost all countries - he was acquitted despite his guilt. The judges said: "This man has had a major turnaround. If we put him in prison, he will probably become a criminal again. We acquit him despite his guilt. God can work such miracles. But he doesn't have to. It is necessary to be prepared to accept all possible consequences. This man's experiences have had a strong influence on my life. ¹ We can also pray for the consequences with the promise: „The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord like rivers of water; he directs it wherever he wills.“ (Proverbs 21:1 LU). We can also pray here:

Prayer regarding possible consequences

Please pray out loud!

Children of God - people who have Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord and all those who will yet accept Him - find an important promise in 1 John 1:9 GNT:

„But if we admit our guilt, we can rely on God to keep his word: He will then forgive us our trespasses and remove from us all the guilt we have brought upon ourselves.“

⁹ Jim Vaus, I was a gangster, Brockhaus paperback. (Brockhaus paperback no. 59)

What has the Lord promised us here? Forgiveness of the sins we confess, and „to remove all guilt from us“. If I confess the sins that I have recognised or that God has shown me, then God cleanses me from all guilt. As far as I know, the Lord never shows us all our guilt. We would perish. He only shows us the ones that are important to us; in exceptional cases, even if it is important to someone else. When I realised this, it was a great relief to me. Purification involves more than just our confession. An example: If a child is disobedient and gets dirty in a puddle, it needs the forgiveness of its parents and the cleaning of its clothes. This means that we are forgiven for the sin and cleansed of the dirt. In addition to forgiveness, we can also ask for cleansing and deliverance.

The forgiveness of sins and our spiritual cleansing is an indispensable condition for the overflowing and fruit-bearing life to which Christ has called us. Happiness, health and eternal life depend in part on having received forgiveness and cleansing. David said after his confession: „You have forgiven me everything.“ (Ps. 32:5 GNT) From this we can see that he was convinced of God's forgiveness and accepted it. This is important so that we do not fall into doubt after our confession and can move on without this burden. How often should we confess one and the same sin? Only once. Unless we subsequently discover that our confession was not complete. Once we have confessed, the guilt is gone. God has laid it on Jesus, our Saviour. Thank him for that. What if there is still a feeling of guilt? Then we should give thanks for forgiveness until it has disappeared.

The first reason may be that they have not fully entrusted their lives to Jesus.¹⁰  This means they have no one to take over their sin. The second reason may be an unrectified short circuit. What does this mean? If there is a small piece of metal on the track of a toy train, then it cannot run even though the power station has a huge capacity. This is the effect if we have not confessed some sin that we are aware of or have not made things right with the person concerned. We then have neither forgiveness nor can we live in the power of God.

¹⁰ See article  “Living in the power of God - how?” And there the remarks about the „carnal man“.

I can still remember very well today how things went when I lied to a customer as a young dispatcher in a newly established forwarding branch in Frankfurt am Main. It was one of our first major customers. There had been a breakdown, but we were able to rectify it afterwards. It didn't cause any problems for the customer. The next day, I visited the customer's head of haulage privately in the evening and asked him to forgive me for lying to him. He said: „What you said all sounded very logical. But I had the feeling that it wasn't true. Now everything is all right again.“ From that day on, this haulage boss had boundless trust in me. No competition could compete with us. That was a formative experience for me.

Proceed courageously and preferably immediately if there is guilt in your life. The solution, which only takes a short time, can be painful. But afterwards you will have great and lasting joy and gain. I wish you a joyful and victorious life with Jesus Christ. If you want to clear up a debt with God's help, then you could express this as follows.

Prayer

The first part is intended for those who have not yet come to faith. Please pray aloud.

It is not so much about the choice of words, but about the fact that we affirm and want what we pray.

If reparation is an option, we can also pray:

We have a wonderful God. We can thank him warmly for all his help and trust his guidance.