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Week 1: Friday
Scripture
- Psalm 103:1–22
- 1 John 1:5–10
- John 3:16–18
Questions
- In what areas of life do you live with guilt?
- How is our guilt removed? What is the cost of our guilt being removed?
- What does Jesus say about your guilt?
- How do we help others overcome their guilt?
Plan of Action
- When you wake up in the morning, thank God for the new day. Thank him for new opportunities. Thank him that today is not yesterday.
- Make an appointment with your pastor to confess your sins. Allow your pastor to announce God’s forgiveness over you.
- Write down your sin and guilt on a paper. Then take that paper and burn it. Remember that God makes your sins to be no more and removes them as far as the east is from the west (see Psalm 103:12).
Reflection
Today we are giving up guilt. There are three types of guilt I want to talk about. There is past, present, and future guilt.
Past Guilt
The past is the past. There is no going back. You can’t change the past. You can’t relive the past. Don’t keep going back to the past. Today is a new day. It is the first day of the rest of your life. Jesus has redeemed your life. He has forgiven your sins. He has given you a new start.
We can learn from our past. It is said we learn from the mistakes of others. We also learn from our own mistakes. Moving forward we may avoid past mistakes, but we don’t need to live in the guilt of those past mistakes. While the past may shape up and guide us, the past will not define us.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)
Jesus came to set us free from our guilt. In him we move forward in freedom from the guilt of the past.
Present Guilt
This is when we keep making the same mistakes over and over. This is when we don’t live up to our expectations. This is when we fall short of the goals we have made. This is when we try to give up a bad habit or addiction, but cannot overcome.
Know the path to victory is never a straight line. For every two steps forward, there is one step back. As we pursue God’s path, Satan will work even harder to push us off course.
Jesus enables us to keep moving forward.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us … Hebrews 12:1 (ESV)
That doesn’t mean it will be easy. That does not mean it will be without setbacks. But when you can’t, know that Jesus can. Ask him for his help. Seek his strength. When we receive the Lord’s Supper it is not just about receiving forgiveness for past sins, but it is also receiving the presence of God in our lives to overcome present challenges.
Future Guilt
The day is coming when we will all stand before the throne of the righteous judge. We will all need to give an account of our lives on earth. At this time we will all receive the pronouncement of guilty or not guilty.
Apart from Jesus, the only possible pronouncement is guilty. We have no answer to the charges against us. Each of us has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (see Romans 3:23). We are guilty as charged.
But Jesus paid it all. He takes our guilt upon himself when we receive the gift of his salvation by faith. He receives the punishment that was ours. He takes our place.
Although there is nothing you deserve from God except his eternal punishment, he offers his undeserved love through Jesus Christ. We sometimes may think that we need to go back and do something more to cover our sin. But Jesus did all that was necessary. There is nothing more to be done.
When we continue to live and to persist in our guilt we are taking away from what Jesus did for us on the cross. It is to say the cross is not enough. But we can’t do anything more than Jesus has already done. And to even think we could do any more is misguided at best.
What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Pastor Phil, thank you for your extremely timely things to give up for lent. You’ve been an inspiration to me to deepen my walk and to share with others. Keep going! You are doing an AWESOME job!
Thank you for these spirits to give up for lent. They have been a tremendous blessing to me and to the people I have shared them with. Continue to allow the Holy Spirit to guide you through this journey.
Thank you Pastor Phil. I stumbled onto your 20 things to give up for lent and this study has been VERY timely! Thank you for putting this all together and putting it out to the public to challenge us all.
I’m a Catholic and I think we are raised to feel guilty, I’m not blaming anyone, just seems like many of my Catholic friends carry guilt around. I find it easy to forgive others, forgiving myself is a different matter. When I don’t live up to my expectations I feel like I have not only failed myself, but my family, friends and my savior, this is my Lenten challenge