The Guilt-Free Life Jesus Offers

February 6, 2025

Do you ever struggle with guilt? Did you know that living with the feeling of guilt isn’t God’s plan for your life?

Instead, God wants you to live with a sense of promise and hope. He can even bring good out of the foolish decisions that you’ve made if you’ll give those failures to him.

How do you do that?

Admit to God you’ve made a mistake. It doesn’t surprise him. And it won’t change his perception of you. When you take this step, here’s what you can expect from him:

God forgives instantly. The very moment you admit your sin to God, he forgives you.

God forgives freely. You don’t need to earn it, and you’ll never deserve it.

God forgives completely. He wipes your sin absolutely clean.

The Bible says in 1 John 1:9, “If we tell Him our sins, He is faithful and we can depend on Him to forgive us of our sins. He will make our lives clean from all sin” (NLV).

You might have spent years working through a problem that really has a very simple solution: You just need a clear conscience. Jesus offers you that. He offers instantaneous forgiveness!

God tells us, “I will forgive their sins and I will no longer remember their wrongs” (Jeremiah 31:34 GNT).

Should Christians ever feel guilty? Yes, for about 5 seconds, because once you take it to God, you are completely forgiven. Run to the Father, and you will be forgiven, immediately.

Scripture tells us He is faithful to forgive. This means, God’s plan for you doesn’t include carrying around the burden of guilt for your sins. Jesus died and rose again so you don’t have to do that. 

So, why do we often feel guilty for longer than a few seconds? We have an enemy. The Bible describes him as “the accuser.” Satan wants to keep you weighted down under the burden of guilt and shame. He wants to keep you bound up so you can’t live in God’s freedom.

But, here’s how God works: You ask for forgiveness. Then God forgives you. But then, he goes a step further and actually forgets what you’ve done wrong. Yep, he chooses to forget.

So, if you feel guilty after confessing to God… guess what… that guilt isn’t from God.

Jesus said in John 8:36, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (NIV).  Jesus is talking about himself here. He’s saying, “If I set you free, you’re going to be really, really free.”

Here’s a freeing truth: If you are a follower of Jesus, when God looks at you he actually sees the righteousness of Jesus. How crazy is that? When God looks at you, if you are in Christ Jesus, he actually sees Jesus’ righteousness covering you. He sees Jesus’ perfection.

Are you feeling the burden of guilt today? Remember that Jesus has come to set you free. When you confess your sins, he will forgive you and set you free from your guilt. Then, you can live in the true freedom of knowing your past is forgiven and you are no longer bound by it.