By Rick Warren
“The Lord gave us mind and conscience; we cannot hide from ourselves. (Proverbs 20:27)
Do you struggle with guilt? We all do at times.
Guilt keeps us stuck in the past. How do you move on and get rid of it? You start by admitting your guilt. Don’t bury it, don’t deny it, and don’t ignore it. Just own up to it!
Even though we know this truth, we still try to run from our guilt. But when you run from guilt, it’s going to catch up with you. Because wherever you go, you take you with you.
The problem is in your mind!
No matter how busy you are or how far away you run, you’re going to be just as stressed if your stress is coming from regrets, shame, or guilt. When you finally slow down, all those feelings will come crashing down on you.
God doesn’t want you to live that way.
The Bible says you can’t run from yourself: “The Lord gave us mind and conscience; we cannot hide from ourselves” (Proverbs 20:27). You may be able to hide your guilt from everybody else, but you can’t hide it from yourself.
We all have an amazing ability to lie to ourselves. You say it’s not bad when it really is bad, and it’s getting better when it isn’t getting any better. You might tell yourself you’re further along and better than you really are.
To stop defeating yourself, you have to stop deceiving yourself. You have to tell yourself the truth.
What is it that defeats us? All kinds of things—worry, envy, bitterness, jealousy, guilt, fear, anxiety, and insecurity.
It may be time to do a spiritual cleaning day.
A lot of people take time in the spring to go through the house and give it an extra scrubbing or organize things that are normally neglected. But spiritually speaking, you don’t need to wait for the spring. At least once a year, take a personal inventory of your spiritual condition.
How do you do that?
Set aside a couple of hours and go somewhere by yourself with paper and a pen. Reflect on the following questions: “God, I want you to bring to mind all my sin. Where have I messed up? What mistakes have I made? What do I feel guilty about, either consciously or unconsciously?”
If you genuinely repent of your sins to God and are honest with yourself, God’s Spirit will start bringing these things to mind. Then, start writing them down.
Why do you have to write it down? Because writing it down helps you to be specific and avoid denying those problems.
Take a spiritual cleaning day this week and get rid of the guilt that’s been weighing you down.