Guilt is persistent, keeps coming at you. Even in the middle of the night, guilt can wake you and get you tossing and turning – useless, fretful tossing and turning.
Forgiveness is more flighty. It comes and goes, often going as soon as it has come. You hear words of forgiveness, maybe from a friend, maybe in church on Sunday, and feel better but before those words have settled in your heart, they’re evicted by that squatter, guilt.
Leviticus 16 spells out the ancient ceremony of Yom Kippur, the High Priest offering sacrifices for his personal sins and for the sins of the people. This had to be done every year; one year’s sacrifice was not good for the next – guilt keeps coming. In contrast, the New Testament presents the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins as an offering once and for all time, no need to repeat it.
“Every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us … he adds, ‘I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.’ Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin” (Hebrews 10:11-18).
Guilt can be a good thing. It goads us to the Priest who sacrificed Himself once and for all for our sins. The art of Christian spiritual living is to keep invoking that once-for-all forgiveness from God through Christ so that you keep evicting that squatter, guilt. “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).
This Minute is taken from “Timely Reflections,” a compilation of 365 Meyer Minutes. It is available for purchase from www.tripillarpublishing.com.
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