Understand: guilt is God’s idea. He uses it the way highway engineers use rumble strips. When we swerve off track, they call us back. Guilt does the same. It leaves us “more alive, more concerned, more sensitive, more reverent, more human, more passionate, more responsible” (2 Cor. 7:11 MSG). Guilt alerts us to the discrepancies between what we are and what God desires. It stirs repentance and renewal. In appropriate doses guilt is a blessing. In unmonitored dosages, however, guilt is an unbearable burden. We cannot carry it.
