In correlation with a bible study I'm doing, I'm giving up guilt for the next ten weeks. I'm quite sure I won't be missing it.
Galatians 5:1 (Posted on Facebook, February 13^th.)

Guilt. Love it. I would say I have successfully spent much of my life feeling guilty. Guilty about so many things: judging others, holding grudges, eating too much chocolate (although if one has to have a guilty pleasure, there could be worse things, right?) I even feel guilty about feeling guilty. Crazy. In fact, guilt and I are so well acquainted that I know its nuances all too well.

Guilt brings with it a sense of shame. I’m such a bad person. I can’t do anything right. God must be really irritated with me because, yes, once again I’ve failed to do what is right or to stop doing what’s wrong. This struggle reminds me of a verse penned by the Apostle Paul.

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? (Romans 7:24)

It brings me great comfort to know that even the Apostle Paul referred to himself as a wretched man. Because, hey, who can’t relate to that--wretched, miserable sinners that we are. Thankfully, that’s not the end of this great conversation that Paul has with his readers and, maybe, more importantly, himself.

²⁵ Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

That deliverance earned for us on an old, rugged cross, that’s where the power comes in, the power I have to live the life I’ve always wanted to. Beating the stick of guilt over my head isn’t going to sanctify me. If anything, it just makes things worse. But, as I remember that God is my sanctifier, I realize that he is the only one who can change me.

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. (1 Thess 5:23-24)

Guilt and peace can’t cohabit. It’s either one or the other. Last time I checked, God didn’t send Jesus down to tally up my sins. He sent his beloved Son down to set me free. Besides, who am I fooling. God knows the real me--maybe even better than I know myself. He knows my sin, my guilt, my shame. He isn’t looking for me to grovel at his feet. All he wants to do is set me free--free from the part I hate most about myself, the sinner.

I run in the path of your commands for you have set my heart free. (Psalm 119:32)

 I’ve always loved that verse, but in the past it’s seemed so unattainable Running in the path of God’s commands; how is that possible? When I feel guilty about something, it weighs me down to the point that I can barely walk, let alone run. But I’m finding that when I fix my eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of my faith, the winds of liberty spur me on to freedom, a freedom that releases me to run like crazy in the path of his commands.