One of the great successes wrought by the devil in our day is teaching us to confuse our feelings with reality. If not self-consciously post-modern, this reality is post-modern adjacent. I can reject the ideology but still practice the folly.
Consider, for instance, guilt. If I have broken God’s law, I am guilty. My feelings have nothing to do with it. I might feel guilty. Or I might feel perfectly at peace with my sin. If I have not broken God’s law, I am not guilty. My feelings have nothing to do with it. I might feel guilty. Or I might feel perfectly at peace about my non-sin. Too often, however, we justify our sin by our lack of guilt feelings, or condemn our non-sin by our guilt feelings.
But wait, there’s more. If I have broken God’s law, I am in myself guilty. If, however, I have broken God’s law, I am in Christ not guilty.
Go back and read that again. I’ll wait.
My calling in every circumstance is to labor to submit my feelings to the reality. I may, having sinned and been forgiven in Christ, still feel guilty. I may think my sorrow is impressive to God. The devil would even have me think that it is my sorrow that atones for my sin. When God, however, says I am forgiven, I sin again when I insist I’m still guilty. I am failing to believe Him. I’m not walking by faith.
It is, of course, faith by which the work of Christ becomes ours. I believe that Jesus suffered the wrath of God due to me for my sins. I rest in His perfect and complete work. Faith, however, doesn’t stop here. Faith goes on to believe God when He says He has removed our sin from us as far as the east is from the west (Ps. 103: 12). Faith does not neglect so great a salvation but walks in joy and life abundant.
Perhaps even worse than our failure to believe God’s forgiveness in our own sin is our failure to believe it in the sins of others. How often do we treat the sins of others this way, “Yes, God forgives you of your sin. But if you are truly repentant you will go about looking like a fasting Pharisee. You’ll wear sackcloth and ashes, and just to be sure, a scarlet letter.”
By all means let us remember that consequences may remain after forgiveness rains down. But never allow us to add to the consequences that remain rejection, judgment, suspicion. My feeling that you are guilty cannot change the reality that your sins have been removed from you as far as the east is from the west.
We are to repent with broken and contrite hearts. We are not, however, to wallow in our own guilt, nor fence our brothers into that mire. What God has declared to be innocent IS innocent, whatever the Accuser or those of his spirit say. Rejoice.