Click here to read the Old Paths Journal.
What to Do With Guilt
2 Samuel 11:6
"And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David."
The principal of cause and effect applies to everything in life. No matter how hard you try to get away from this principle it is still there. For instance, if you press down the accelerator pedal in your car, it will go faster. If you let up on the accelerator pedal, then the car will slow down. The cause is the accelerator pedal, and the affect is going faster or slower. Again, if you charge items to your credit card, then the effect will be that your bills will be greater. If you want your bills to be lower, then you must stop charging to your credit card. The cause and effect applies to your finances. Likewise, if you turn a light switch on, the darkness will immediately go away. The cause is the light switch and the effect is darkness going away.
Likewise sin has its after effects. David figured out that sin has after effects once it was too late. One of the effects of sin is guilt. We read in the verse above that David had to deal with guilt. He committed adultery with Bathsheba, and the effect of the sin was guilt entered into his heart. Instead of dealing with his guilt in the proper way, he added to his sin by having Bathsheba's husband killed. David dealt with his guilt in the wrong way.
There are two things you can do with guilt. The first thing you can do with guilt is to add to your sin by trying to cover it up. That is what David did. When you try to deal with guilt by covering up sin, you will only add to its effects in the future. When you try to cover up your sin, this will cause you to have more guilt and consequences. You cannot add to sin without having the effect of guilt and consequences to become greater. That is why you must not allow yourself to deal with guilt by trying to cover up sin. If you deal with guilt by covering up sin, you only make your guilt worse.
The second thing you could do with your guilt is to get rid of your sin. This is the best way to deal with guilt. When you get rid of sin, then you get rid of guilt and its consequences. Yes, you may have to deal with the payment of sin for some time, but eventually its consequences will end if you don't continue to add to your sin. David added to his sin, and the result was that he paid for it the rest of his life.
So what are you going to do with your guilt? What you do with your sin will determine how long you will deal with its affects. You can let your guilt continue to cause you to cover up your sin, or you could deal with it immediately by getting rid of sin. What you do with guilt will ultimately determine how happy your life will be. Don't allow sin to take away the joy of life. The best way to deal with guilt is to get rid of the cause of that guilt.
If you have something that's causing guilt, get rid of it today. The principle of cause and effect applies to your life, and especially to sin. The cause of guilt is sin, and what you do with guilt will determine its effects. Don't let guilt follow you for the rest of your life because of your lack of dealing with its cause. Deal with guilt's cause today, and let guilt become a thing of the past.