THAT HORRIBLE FEELING OF GUILT!

THAT HORRIBLE FEELING OF GUILT!

Rom 3:19

19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

James 2:10

10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

           The moment that Adam ate the forbidden fruit his eyes were opened and he felt, for the first time, that horrible feeling of guilt. He knew right from wrong! More specifically, he knew that he had actually done wrong. He was guilty and sought for a place to hide. He sewed fig leaves together and made a loin cloth to cover his private parts. In the cool of the evening he hid from his God.

           The biblical idea of guilt has three elements. [1] There is the idea of responsibility. Since Adam had been clearly forewarned about the tree in the midst of the garden he was then responsible to obey the warning. [2] The second idea is that of blameworthiness (Latin reatus culpae) and [3] the obligation to make good through punishment or compensation (Latin reatus poenae; compare Greek opheilema, "debt," Matt 6:12). In other words, in thinking of guilt we ask the questions of cause, motive and consequence, the central idea being that of the personal blameworthiness of the sinner. (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)

But it is the feeling of guilt and not the mechanics of it that requires attention. David said in Psalm 51:3, “my sin is ever before me!” He knew what he had done. He knew it was wrong and even though nobody seemed to know of the deed yet it plagued him like a burden he carried on his back. He needed to rid himself of this baggage.

In John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress Christian had just come to the cross and it is at this place we read: “Then CHRISTIAN gave three leaps for joy and went on singing:

“Thus far did I come laden with my sin,

Nor could aught ease the grief that I was in,

Till I came hither. What a place is this!

Must here be the beginning of my bliss!

Must here the burden fall from off my back!

Must here the strings that bound it to me crack!

Blest cross! Blest sepulcher! Blest rather be

The Man that was there put to shame for me!”

Dear Lord, let me today give three leaps for joy and then go on my way singing. AMEN