Moving from Guilt to Repentance

The sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret.
–2 Corinthians 7:10

When you feel guilty about something you’ve done, what do you do? I think Adam and Eve illustrate the way many of us respond to a guilty conscience: We run away and cover up. I don’t just mean fleeing the scene of the crime and hiding the evidence behind some fig leaves. We also try to run away by rationalizing our sin. We try to cover up by blaming something or somebody else.

But as Christians, I think we easily fall into the opposite trap: wallowing in our guilt. We feel so sorry for our sin–or for the consequences of our sin–that we’re paralyzed. We become ineffective in carrying out our responsibilities, including our mission of sharing the gospel.

In 2 Corinthians 7:10, Paul wrote, “The sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.” Friend, Satan would love for you to think, I’m worthless. I’ll never be forgiven. I deserve to wallow in my sorrow. This kind of sorrow separates us from God and His blessings in our lives. But the kind of sorrow that comes from God leads to “repentance without regret.” The Greek word translated as “repentance” is metanoia, which means a change of mind that leads to a change of direction. Instead of running from or wallowing in our guilt, we have the choice to acknowledge our guilt, turn away from our sin, and never look back.

Now, the Bible says there are two kinds of guilt. One is judicial guilt–the guilt we all have before a holy God. Romans 3:23 says every single one of us has fallen woefully short of God’s perfect standard. The good news is that when we trust in Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, God declares us not guilty before Him. Only God can remedy our judicial guilt.

The kind of guilt I’m talking about is ethical guilt–the guilt we have when we sin as Christians. In Isaiah 59:2, God said to His people, “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God.” This week, we’re going to learn how to conquer the mountain of guilt and experience the freedom of God’s forgiveness.

Today’s devotion is adapted from “Moving from Guilt to Repentance,” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2021.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.