Guilt can be a destructive emotion. It can take over and overwhelm us. Don’t let guilt get the better of you. It’s easy said but sometimes not so easy to do.
We all feel at times that we let people down, or that we don’t behave the way we should. As we’ve no doubt discovered, there will always be those to criticize and heap guilt on you. This can happen when we don’t do what other people expect us to or think we should. It can happen when, despite our best intentions, plans don’t work out and we are not able to do something we had agreed to do.
We can choose to give in to this guilt others try to place on us and let guilt overwhelm us, or we can talk it over with our Lord. If our conscience is clear before God that we have done all humanly possible to keep our word, or that God’s plans for us differ from what someone else thinks we should be doing, then it is important nor not to overreact and become defensive or argumentative. This only leads to more problems. We just have to get over it and shrug off the guilt imposed by others.
Others times the guilt is imposed by ourselves, because we have not behaved as we know we ought. Sometimes this is justified guilt because we have behaved inappropriately. Other times it is a false guilt or something blown all out of proportion. Take a mother or father who yells at their kids or slaps them in anger. It’s something many parents have done at some stage in their lives.
Of course some do it more often than others. So we do need to be aware of how we react and try and not let the situation escalate or our stress levels get to such a point where we will overreact. If it is something that doesn’t happen often, you might want to consider what is behind it. Are there other things going on in your life that are making you behave this way.
We need to look at ourselves honestly, repent of any sin, apologize if necessary to anyone we have hurt in the process and then move on. Don’t allow your thoughts to keep coming back to it and going over the situation. That will only lead to further frustration and could ensure you end up repeating the problem.
God promises to forgive our sin if we confess and truly repent of them, 1 John 1:9. If we have done this, then no one, not others, not ourselves, and not Satan who loves to get into with his niggling jibes can accuse us. It is dealt with. A done deal. That is what God says. Who are you going to listen to on the subject, – God or Satan?
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