Residual Guilt

I wonder if there's such a phrase as "residual guilt". I used it the other day, and if there is no such phrase, then I will take credit for its creation. I may even have it copyrighted so I can start collecting royalties [rubs hands together, laughs in mad scientist fashion].

Residual guilt comes from a feeling that God's forgiveness isn't complete. We know that God forgives completely in Christ and can give intellectual assent to it. But there are those times when we feel we must atone for anything that may have "slipped through the cracks" of grace. It's troubling to think that grace has cracks to begin with, let alone feeling like we've managed to wiggle through somehow.

I think residual guilt comes from the inability to forgive ourselves. And I believe we can forgive ourselves. What God has declared to be clean should be declared clean by us as well-- including ourselves. Our culture has taught us that we need to make restitution for any shortcomings or mistakes that we've made. We then project this onto God and believe that God expects the same. After all, God is perfect, makes no mistakes, and has done nothing to feel guilty about.

I can't tell you how many times I've pictured God sitting around waiting for little old me to conform completely to God's standards, and making up for the places I've failed which were not covered by Jesus' blood. But this is not the picture revealed in Scripture.

God has forgiven us completely through Christ. When we learn that we can do the same, then residual guilt can be stricken from our vocabulary. I'll lose royalty fees, but I won't mind.