Good Guilt, Bad Guilt

READ: PSALM 51; 2 CORINTHIANS 7:8-13

Guilt is hard. Sometimes, Satan will try to convince us that we are guilty of something terrible when we really aren’t. This “bad guilt” tells us the lie that we are irredeemable, unlovable people. We can become discouraged and paralyzed, unable to do anything good. But in these times, we can come to Jesus, give our struggle over to Him in prayer, and rest knowing that we are made clean and new by Jesus’s death and resurrection.

There are also times guilt can be helpful. The Holy Spirit uses “good guilt” to gently show us a specific way that we’ve disobeyed God. When our attitudes, words, or actions damage our relationships with others or God, good guilt shows us that we need healing and restoration.

In Psalm 51, we see David’s good guilt. He had done something evil: he used his position as king of Israel to bring Bathsheba to his palace, have sex with her, and then have her husband killed. When David realized the evil of what he had done, he wept and repented, and he looked for ways to make things right. While David still had to face the consequences of his actions, his good guilt led him to restoration with God and others (2 Samuel 11-12).

We also see good guilt in 2 Corinthians 7. This is the second letter Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, and his first letter contained some pretty strong words about ways they were not following God. Paul knew that disobeying God’s good commands would cause a lot of hurt, so it broke his heart to see that these people he loved were sinning. After reading Paul’s first letter, they felt good guilt, and as they repented and turned to God, the Holy Spirit helped them follow God more closely. So when Paul wrote this second letter, he rejoiced with them!

Guilt never feels good. But good guilt leads to good change. While bad guilt (or false guilt) imprisons us in shame, good guilt spurs us on to pursue healing. It pushes us closer to Jesus and to each other. The Holy Spirit never tells us we’re irredeemable, instead He invites us to come to Jesus, who always forgives and restores. • Taylor Eising

• Do you feel guilty about anything right now? You can spend time with Jesus in prayer anytime, asking Him if this is good guilt or bad guilt. If it’s good guilt, you can confess your sin to Him, rest in His forgiveness, and ask Him to guide you in how to move forward. If it’s bad guilt, you can bring it to Jesus and ask Him to remind you what’s true about you (Ephesians 5:25-27).

Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 2 Corinthians 7:10 (NIV)