John 16:7-11 - Nevertheless, I am telling you the
truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away
the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send Him to
you. When He comes, He will convict the world about sin,
righteousness, and judgment: About sin, because they do not believe
in Me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the
Father and you will no longer see Me; and about
judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
I can remember times in my life when I sat in church and
felt overwhelmed by guilt. Other times I sensed the Spirit moving in me to
remove the stain of sin from my heart. What is the difference between guilt and
conviction? Since the Bible teaches certain standards, feeling bad about our
sin is not always a bad thing. But some churches have taken the whole “hell,
fire and brimstone” method a bit far. Such churches use guilt to get people to
do the right thing. One problem with a guilt-based approach is that while it often
works in the short term, it seldom works in the long term. On the rare occasion
that guilt does change behavior over the long term, it robs people of the joy
and happiness they should find in their faith. Another problem with a
guilt-based approach is that young people with a more post-modern worldview
simply refuse to be motivated by guilt. Therefore, they consider guilt-based
churches irrelevant and simply ignore them. This leaves pastors and church
leaders in an interesting situation. We need to help people learn the biblical
principles for godly living, but need to do it in ways that are based on Holy
Spirit conviction instead of the human emotion of guilt.
Perhaps the first step in the process is to help people
learn the difference between Holy Spirit conviction, which is healthy for a
vibrant spirituality, and guilt, which is normally unhealthy. It can be
difficult to discern between guilt and conviction because they often both start
out the same way, with some deficiency in our lives. Guilt reveals the problem
but then makes people feel stupid or useless. Guilt makes people feel like they
will never recover from their mistake. This causes people to become either depressed
or rebellious, neither of which solves the problem. Holy Spirit conviction, on
the other hand, reveals the deficiency but then uses that revelation as
motivation for people to change because they really want to.
Another way of expressing the difference between guilt and
conviction is in terms of the cross. If we are clinging to the cross, we find
forgiveness and conviction is relieved. If we are running from the cross, guilt
chases us until it captures us and tortures us.
We must remember that guilt is from Satan and produces bad
results. Conviction is from the Holy Spirit and produces good results. Guilt
leaves us with an understanding that we have committed an offense, but offers
no hope of redemption. Guilt fills us with the despair of condemnation.
Conviction, on the other hand, also reveals an offense, a
wrong or a sin, but conviction also reveals a way out of shame and condemnation
by offering forgiveness and freedom in Jesus Christ. Once we have received
forgiveness and changed our behavior then bad feelings go away and they are replaced
with joy. When people experience Holy Spirit conviction, instead of mere human
guilt, they have an inner desire to do what is right out of the joy of their
salvation and not out of fear of punishment from God or the leaders of the
church. As Christian leaders, we must encourage people to respond to Holy
Spirit conviction and find the forgiveness and joy that results. However, we
must never use emotional guilt to manipulate people’s actions.
Lord, help us respond humbly to genuine conviction from Your
Spirit but never accept man-made guilt over things You have already forgiven.
Amen.
This devotional is from the book “Heavenly Mundane” by Dr.
Terry W. Dorsett. Dr. Dorsett has been a pastor, church planter, denominational
leader and author in New England for more than 20 years. He is a
happy husband, a proud father and adoring grandfather. He is a
cancer survivor and believes that God works powerfully
through times of suffering. He writes extensively and you can find all of
his books at:
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