It is an outlier, existing outside of us, yet very much a crouched tiger, ready to spring into view to assault us at any given moment.
It seems there are two arenas of guilt:
Conventional guilt, into which we step with our poor behavior choices, our sin
Optional guilt--thrown our way by the enemy of God--that we adopt for ourselves for any number of reasonsInterestingly, both have a measure of choice about them.
When we sin against God with our thoughts and deeds, we are exercising the choice of our behavior. Jesus lived in human flesh without sin as our ultimate model, that to which we aspire but will never reach in our current state. His human flesh was horribly crucified instead of ours--when we say thank you in acknowledgement of His willingness to be slain, we are given the means to deal with conventional guilt.
Why is a sacrifice required? To reconcile with the holiness of God.
God's holiness cannot embrace our sin, but neither does He mean for us to carry the guilt of our choices.
Conventional guilt has an out: acknowledging the price Jesus paid and in honor of that Power, asking God to extend to us that covering of forgiveness and reconciliation.
Conventional guilt that we stepped into by choice once again becomes an outlier, outside of us.
God will keep that crouching tiger in check if we let Him truly have authority over it. If we remember the guilt and take it back over and over, it will harass us in ways that Jesus lived to overcome.
I want to allow Jesus' few horrible hours on the cross to keep my crouching tiger of conventional guilt at bay.
Jesus gets the honor; I get the release and freedom. A gift freely given in both directions.
Tomorrow: exploring optional guilt.
