The Peril of Guilt

Genesis 50:15 (NKJV)

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “Perhaps Joseph will hate us, and may actually repay us for all the evil which we did to him.

Joseph’s brothers have been harboring guilt in themselves for the past thirty-nine years! They did their sin against Joseph when he was seventeen, Joseph is now fifty six and being the prime minister of Egypt. Joseph sleeps, wakes up, and works peacefully in God’s presence without any thought of hate while his brothers are thinking the unthinkable!

Many times we too are victims of our own guilt. We still think about our pasts even when we know that Jesus Christ has forgiven us with all our sin when we accepted Him as our Savior and Lord. He made us new, and we become new creation in Christ, the old has gone – the new has come! (2 Cor 5:17). Yet our guilt still haunts us, we cannot forgive ourselves as much as Joseph’s brothers cannot forgive themselves on what they did. Much more, they are facing the one whom they sinned to.

The good news for us is, when Jesus forgave us, He called us his friends (John 15:15), we are co-heirs with Him in heaven. We will see Him face to face and have fellowship with Him. He will be our bridegroom and we are His bride, which speaks of uniting with Him in the future.

If you are a new creation in Christ, put out all the past guilt, Jesus has washed your sins away with His blood. Put out all your burden of unforgiveness that drags you down so heavy, for when you cannot forgive your fellow men or even yourself, how can the Father forgive you? You cannot pray, “Forgive us, as we forgive those who sinned against us”. Don’t be a fool like Joseph’s brothers, take out your guilt, forgive others, and live in peace with God and other people.