Free from Guilt

A couple of friends and I have had conversations this week about the thing that seems to plague all women most of the time...guilt.

I feel guilty about standing my ground when I know I'm right. What if I hurt the other person's feelings? 

I feel guilty about honestly saying no when I don't want to do something.  What if I'm just being selfish?

I feel guilty about not attending every birthday or wedding I'm invited to. Or accepting every friend request on social media. Or volunteering for every empty spot on the church help list. 

I feel guilty about buying myself a new shirt. Or a new book. Because maybe that money could be used for something more important. 

I feel guilty for just wanting to be alone--a lot--instead of out partying it up with people. 

I feel guilty for sitting my kid in front of the TV for a few minutes while I write this. 

I feel guilty for just wanting a foot rub at the end of the day, and not a steamy evening of romance.

I feel guilty that I haven't finished all the things on my to-do list for the day...every day.  

One of the Bible's names for our spiritual Enemy is "The Accuser"...boy does that fit! I am, almost at all times, too selfish, too nice, too busy, too fat, too disorganized, and the list goes on. And I am not alone. Every woman I know is under this constant harassment from the thoughts in her head. Whether she's heard them from her mother, the media, or her own reflection, they echo tirelessly, and get louder in her weakest moments.

But what does our Heavenly Judge and Father say about us? 

"God brought you alive—right along with Christ! Think of it!

All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled

and nailed to Christ’s cross. He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe

of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked

through the streets!

Woah! Everything that once stood against me and made me "guilty" is no longer there! The Bible goes one step further and says that those things are not even worth thinking about:

So, then, if with Christ you’ve put all that pretentious and infantile religion behind you,

 why do you let yourselves be bullied by it?

 'Don’t touch this! Don’t taste that! Don’t go near this!' Do you think things that are here today and gone tomorrow are worth that kind of attention?"

The answer to that question is those things are not worth my attention...and I will no longer be bullied by them. 

So when those thoughts start, I write myself a list of all the things I've been feeling guilty about and bring it before the Lord. I read 2 Colossians (above) again. And then I tear that list up. Burn it. Toss it. Tie it in a rock and hurl it into my nearest big body of water. Because those things no longer have control over me. And when the Accuser brings them back to mind tomorrow, or next week, or next month, I remind him of what Jesus says about me in 1 Peter 2:

"But you (Sarah) are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,

God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him

 who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God;

once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."

Over and over, the Lord has to remind me of these verses, and after several years, I'm finally beginning to believe them and live them out. I'm finally learning to stop and ask myself, "Am I doing this because I am truly passionate about it, or because I'll feel guilty or bad if I don't?" And if guilt is my motivator, then I won't do it. That "feeling bad" about not doing something doesn't come from the Lord, because:

there is now no condemnation 

for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Best news ever! I can live without all that guilt. 

Scripture from The Message Bible and the New International Version.