How to Deal with Guilt

Perhaps the acid test whether or not we have receive the grace of God is by examining our typical responses in dealing with guilt. Ravi Zacharias in his book Cries of the Heart wrote that there are at least five different responses that humanity has me to battle with guilt: Expel guilt by irreverence, smother guilt by pride, conceal guilt by fear, dismiss guilt as cultural, and deny guilt by innocence. After explaining each one in turn, he wrote (p 116-118):

“When expelled by irreverence, guilt makes a life in mutual harmony unlivable. When smothered by pride it makes one’s life unaccountable. When concealed by fear it makes the pain unbearable. When dismissed as cultural it makes morality untenable. When claiming absolute innocence before God it makes that claim unjustifiable. When guilt surrenders to the grace of God, it makes the sin forgivable . . . On our way to a solution for how to respond to guilt a very subtle though enormous chasm was crossed beyond forgiveness was offered. The focus shifted away from guilt.

Ingmar Bergman may have captured this huge chasm better than even he realized in his play Wild Strawberries. It is the story of a professor who had come before a judge to be sentenced. The judge looked at the accused and declared,

“I find you guilty.”
“Guilty of what?” demanded the professor.
“You are guilty of guilt,” said the judge.
“Is that serious?” asked the accused man.
“Very serious,” answered the judge.

Think for a moment. If guilt is all we have to deal with where do we go? How does one remove guilt? . . . If only one can take the next step and say, “I am guilty of sin,” then the answer comes triumphantly – “I have a Savior for you.” He went to the cross to carry that penalty and pay a price. It was not cheap; it was God’s priceless gift of His Son to bear the guilt brought by sin of the world."