YOU CAN BE GUILT FREE
The handwriting was shaky. The stationery was lined loose-leaf paper. The ink was black and the tone desperate. The note was dated February 6, 1974, and addressed to the U.S. government. “I am sending ten dollars for blankets I stole while in World War II. My mind could not rest. Sorry I’m late.” It was signed, “an ex-GI.” Then there was this postscript: “I want to be ready to meet God.”
This “ex-GI” was not alone in his guilt. His letter is one of literally tons of letters that have been sent to the U.S. government since it began collecting and storing the letters in 1811. Since that time over $3,500,000 has been deposited in what is called the Conscience Fund.
In some instances the amounts are small, only the remorse is big. One Colorado woman sent in two eight-cent stamps to make up for having used one stamp twice (which for some reason had not been canceled). A former IRS employee mailed in one dollar for four ballpoint pens she had never returned to the office.
A Salem, Ohio, man submitted one dollar with the following note: “When a boy, I put a few pennies on the railroad track and the train flattened them. I understand there is a law against defacing our money. I have not seen it but I desire to be a law-abiding citizen.”
Anxiety over a thirty-year-old mistake? Regret over mashed pennies? A guilty conscience because of ballpoint pens? If the struggle to have a clean conscience wasn’t so common, the letters would be funny. But the struggle is common.
What do you do with your failures? Our mistakes come to us as pebbles, small stones that serve as souvenirs of our stumbles. We carry them in our hands, and soon our hands are full. We put them in our pockets, and soon our pockets bulge. We place them in a bag and put it over our shoulder; the burlap scratches and chaps. And soon the bag of yesterday’s failures is so heavy, we drag it.
Could you do it all over again, you’d do it differently. You’d be a different person. You’d be more patient. You’d control your tongue. You’d finish what you started. You’d turn the other cheek instead of slapping his. You’d get married first. You wouldn’t marry at all. You’d be honest. You’d resist the temptation. You’d run with a different crowd.
But you can’t. And as many times as you tell yourself, “What’s done is done,” what you did can’t be undone.
That’s part of what Paul meant when he said, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). He didn’t say, “The wages of sin is a bad mood.” Or, “the wages of sin is a hard day.” Nor, “The wages of sin is depression.” Read it again. ‘The wages of sin is death.” Sin is fatal.
Can anything be done with it?
Your therapist tells you to talk about it. So you do. You pull the bag into his office and pour the rocks out on his floor and analyze each one. And it’s helpful. It feels good to talk and he’s nice. But when the hour is up, you still have to carry the bag out with you.
“Feel-great-about-life” rallies tell you to ignore the thing and be happy! Which works—until you wipe the fog off your mirror and take an honest look. Then you see, it’s still there.
Legalists tell you to work the weight off. A candle for every rock. A prayer for every pebble. Sounds logical, but what if you run out of time? Or what if you didn’t count correctly? You panic.
What do you do with the stones from life’s stumbles?
Facing up to your failures before God is the only way to clear your guilty conscience. God made that possible by sending His Son, Jesus, to pay the penalty for your sins. In his death on a cross Jesus “suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).
If you truly agree with God about your sinfulness and believe in Jesus’ sacrifice for you, God offers to pardon you and give you eternal life. His forgiveness includes this assurance for your soul: “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).
Talk to God right now; confess to Him the wrong things you’ve done, express your need for his salvation, and ask for His forgiveness. Then thank Him for His great love and mercy. You can tell him in words like these:
Dear God, I admit that I’m a sinner in need of your forgiveness. Thank you for sending Jesus to suffer the punishment I deserved for my sins. I’m trusting in you for eternal life and for your help in making my life one that pleases you. Thank you for loving me and giving me eternal life through Christ.”
Yes, thanks to Christ, you can be guilt free!