Am I guilty?

I revisited an old devotional that I loved. It was on the subject of guilt. The last line in the devotional is my favorite. " The holy spirit brings guilt for things that have not been confessed to God but the devil to things that are already confessed.

It made me think of all the things we can fell guilty about before we confessed them to God. So many times we are reminded of things that we did in our past lives. Some of them pretty bad. We need to remember that once we confessed them to God and were forgiven, they were erased from the book of life.

I love the bible that my wife got me some time ago and is just now getting some use. It has an index and concordance in the back. I looked up guilty and it brought me to Romans 3.

We all have heard Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. That is the only part that Satan wants us to remember. He is very good at deceiving us and even better at using the scriptures to do it. I think I feel a little guilty just typing that verse.

I had never read the next verse but it is just as important as the one before it. Romans 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God gives us a punch to the gut by telling us we have all sinned and fallen short. Then he lifts us up by telling us that we are all redeemed through the grace of God and his son.

The 24th verse reminded me of something else I read in a devotional a while back. John 19:30 says When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

The term there "It is finished" is the same term used when a debt had been paid. It signified that the debt was paid in full. So in a sense Christ was saying, "It has been paid".

Just remember THAT the next time you feel guilty about something. The Lord has already paid the price for the sin and you are no longer guilty.