We Are Not Guilty. We Are Forgiven

I admit it, something must be wrong with me.  Others struggle with guilt but I don’t. It is hard for me to understand people who do feel guilty.  As I look back over my life I remember:

Posing for the picture above I felt no need to help my cousin and my sister try to control my little brother.  I didn't feel the least bit guilty.

As a teen I admired my best friend, Nancy, who could ask questions about the Bible.  I didn’t feel guilty that I couldn’t think of any questions to ask. 

In college I didn’t feel guilty because my grades were either B’s or C’s.  (I did get A’s in P.E.)

As a young mother, other mothers related to me that they felt guilty about their parenting skills.  I didn’t feel guilty –just TERRIFIED!  When my daughter was two I cried out to the Lord and asked for His help.  He sent help in the form of a mom’s group at church. 

The other day I listened to a podcast by Andy Lewis, a pastor at a church in South Carolina.  He felt guilty because he didn’t pray enough.  I learned about George Mueller who prayed for four hours a day, but I didn’t feel guilty because I didn’t pray that much.   God graciously steered me to a Moms in Prayer group when my son was in junior high and I began praying an hour every week with the group. 

I don’t feel guilty because I need a lot of sleep.  I don’t feel guilty because I don’t have enough energy to go out, earn the bacon, and fry it up in a pan!  A title of a book written about me may be “It’s Good Enough!”

I think Jesus would be okay with a wrinkled tablecloth—He just wants to spend time with us. I think He would be open to paper plates and not china.  He said, “…only one thing is needed.”

Maybe the reason I don’t feel guilty very often is that I’m not a perfectionist.  Many perfectionists may struggle with guilt because life isn’t perfect!  People aren’t perfect.  There is no perfect house.  There is no perfect church.  There is no perfect job.  We can work and work and work at something (like a wedding, party, meal, etc.) and it may not turn out to be perfect.  The important part is can we enjoy it even if it isn’t perfect? 

I think the main reason I don’t feel guilty very often, (I did feel guilty the other day in water aerobics when I was talking to two other ladies and a third lady informed us she couldn’t hear the instructor), is because there is no condemnation in Jesus Christ.  Our pastor preached on Colossians 2:8-15 last Sunday.  He closed with “know your position.” We are spiritually clean, forgiven, and victorious in Jesus.  There is no condemnation in Jesus Christ.  “Amazing love, how can it be that Thou my God shouldst die for me!”  --Charles Wesley