Paul standing before Felix in Acts 24:16 says to him, "I always strive to keep my conscience clear before God and man".
Therefore, I believe that is a worthy goal for all Christians to reach for.
Sometimes we sin and we feel the pangs of guilt and at other times we feel nothing at all.
Our focus however, should be on clearing up the matter that brought the guilt in the first place.
Did I sin ? Yes. Then I confess my sin and it's dealt with.
Yeah but I still feel so bad, and you know this is the gazillionth time I've done it, and I've promised God about just as many times that I wouldn't.
Oh Lord I just feel so down and depressed about this whole thing, I don't know what to think anymore, and on and on and on we go moping and groaning.
God forgave us the moment we confessed the sin, whether we "felt" forgiven or not.
But we don't believe the word, our trust lies in our feelings and when we feel "better" well then we are forgiven and everything is right, right ?
No.
Everything is better when we confess the (first time or one millionth time) sin.
Yes guilt does play a role but to allow it to dominate our hearts and minds on a continuous basis is not according to my above quoted Scripture right.
God would far rather have us "repent after a godly sorrow" that is, bringing an end to the sin, or doing something constructive to weaken the sin than He would see us crying woe is me for i have sinned (again).
…9 And now I rejoice, not because you were made sorrowful, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you felt the sorrow that God had intended, and so were not harmed in any way by us. 10
Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 11 Consider what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what zeal, what vindication! In every way you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.…
So, we feel sorrow for our actions, then we confess it and DO something about it and move on.
Worldly sorrow brings death because ALL IT DOES IS FEEL bad but does nothing to change the sin.
Godly sorrow ACTS.
God likes this.
Yes but does God know brother, does He actually know and see how I feel, does He see that I'm trying, it might not be much but I'm doing my best to change, does He see that, does He know that I hate this "thing" ?
... for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.
1 Jn 3:20
Yes God knows we are trying.
Guilt is good in much the same way a hot stove is.
It does something positive but it's not supposed to stay on forever.
So, let's do something with the heat we feel, and move on.
