Have you ever felt guilty from doing, saying, or thinking something you knew was wrong? We all have a conscious that seems to just know the difference between right and wrong. Even if we can justify why we did something, we can still feel that nagging conscious telling us it was still wrong and we shouldn’t have done it.

I am so thankful that God has made a way for us to be forgiven of our sins and wrongdoing. 1 John 1:9 says that if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from them. But there is only one way this can happen.

Romans 3:25a (NLT) says, “For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed His life, shedding His blood.” We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:22a NLT).

Justification is an act of God whereby He places us in a right relationship with Him. It is a declaration of innocence and righteousness, and we are set free from all guilt or blame as our sins are erased.

Psalm 103:12 tells us that God has removed our sins as far as the east is from the west. Isaiah 43:25 takes it even further to tell us that He blots out our sins and will not think of them or remember them again!

We cannot earn justification by anything we do. We can only receive it by accepting the free and gracious gift of God through the sacrificial death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus.

Some think of justification by the phrase “just as if I had never sinned.” Because God erases and blots out our sins, never to bring them up to us again after we’ve asked forgiveness and repented of them, in His sight it truly is as if we’d never committed the sin.

However, we do not have the luxury of never remembering our sins again. Yes, we’ve been forgiven and justified in God’s sight, but in our humanness, we can never go back to the time before we committed the sin. Some may feel they can never be truly forgiven.

God will never place guilt or condemnation upon us. He sees us as cleansed and righteous. However, we have an enemy who loves to heap guilt, condemnation, blame and shame upon us, and sometimes we join right in. The memory of our sin is ever before us and we can’t let it go. We feel like we have to pay the price to be forgiven.

We have received God’s forgiveness but sometimes we just can’t forgive ourselves. When we recognize all the guilt, blame and shame we are living with that steals any peace or joy that God has promised, it is time to repent of carrying them, forgive ourselves, and let it go. We tend to place ourselves above God if we can’t forgive something that God has already forgiven.

Romans 5:1 (NLT) says, “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.” He paid the ultimate price so we can walk and live in the peace of forgiveness. Accept His free gift today and be set free from all guilt and condemnation.

Hope Ministries is a Christian counseling center, and we are here to help. If you would like to speak confidentially with someone, give us a call at 845-482-5300.