OUR ATTITUDE:
Psalm 51:3 (NIV) For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
Psalm 40:12 (NIV) For troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me.
Psalm 38:4 (NKJV) For my iniquities have gone over my head; Like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
Ezra 9:6 (NIV) [I] prayed: "O my God, I am too ashamed and disgraced to lift up my face to you, my God, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens.
GOD'S RESPONSE:
Isaiah 55:7 (NIV) Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
1 John 1:9 (NIV) 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
2 Chronicles 30:9 (NIV) 9 If you return to the LORD, then your brothers and your children will be shown compassion by their captors and will come back to this land, for the LORD your God is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn his face from you if you return to him."
1 John 1:5-7 (NIV) 5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
Jeremiah 31:34 (NKJV) 34 For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."
True guilt is a valuable asset for living. It helps us when we hurt others or betray our own standards and values. God uses guilt to influence us to change our minds about what we are doing, leading us to repentance. If we never felt guilt, we would not follow rules or standards, obey the law, or have good relationships with loved ones. Brenda Poinsett in Understanding a Woman's Depression. Christianity Today, Vol. 34, no. 4. [Today's Best Illustrations - Today's Best Illustrations – Volumes 1-4].
