Dealing with Guilt 2 - Where to go with it? ...

Tuesday, Oct 13, 2009. Where do I go with my guilt? When you have guilt which is generating sorrows, when you feel that things which you have done or have failed to do are destroying something deep in you interior, where do you go with it? How do you deal with a broken relationship? How do we deal with all the things we got wrong from the very beginning, with all the possibilities we missed, with the understanding we never had and never gave? How do we deal with the point that we could not give to my children what they deserved to receive. How do I deal with the point that I neglected my parents and grandparents?

Today I do not want to discuss whether guilt is an issue. For many of us it is there. It is not only that it exists, but also it has influence on how we develop, how we carry out our day, how we do our decisions. Our guilt is influencing our life. Guilt is destroying relationships. Guilt is destroying hope. Guilt is destroying options and possibilities. Guilt is a path into darkness. It is changing the image we have about ourselves as well as our perception of the world around us.

If we just ignore guilt, we might be able to live with it as we might live with some broken leg or with some wound, which does not heal. It might be possible to live like that - but we are far from normal. We are not able to move properly, and our whole body is suffering from the injuries. We need to heal the wound. We need to heal the broken parts of our body. We need renewal and real healing!

The biblical treatment of guilt is similar to how a trained doctor treats a wound. First, we need to realise that it is there. Diagnosis is important. We need to see where the wound is, how deep it is and need to have an idea what happened. Then, the wound will be cleaned and after it is cleaned it can heal. Sometimes, this needs particular treatment, it needs to be stitched. The wounds which are caused by our guilt can go deeply into our mind and our soul.

In the centre of the New Testament there is the death of Jesus at the cross. It is said to be a death which bears the guilt of mankind. It is a death of someone without any guilt, who takes the guilt and sin of the world: the “lamb of God”. It is our guilt, which he chose to bear. And it is the guilt of all the people who hurt us, in our past and today. All the suffering of people is reflected in the cruel cross on the hill of Calvary.

The cross can be a place to go with our guilt. It is the place to go with everything we did, but also with everything which was done to us. Here, at the cross, guilt can be taken away, since Jesus is willing and able to carry it. It is the largest miracle of the world that guilt can be taken away, that real healing of guilt and the pain of injuries is possible. At the cross where Jesus died this miracle becomes reality. [R.W.E.P., jesusnetwork.eu]

... more texts