Guilt Decisions - A message about how guilt can cause us to make abnormal decisions

Your heart races, you may start to sweat, you feel an overwhelming amount of other emotions all because of guilt. Something you did that you feel horrible about. Maybe you don't want to share because it will ruin a relationship. Maybe you will lose your job. There are a number of possibilities that could happen because of an error you made.

Maybe the error was due to a lack of judgment. Maybe it was due to a sense of compromise of "just this one time." Maybe it was due to greed or simply some other situation that caused the error to occur. The outcome is the same - you feel guilty.

Sunday, we looked at Herod's error in identity of Jesus, calling him John the Baptist - who had been recently beheaded. He had made some decisions in this passage (Matthew 14:1-12) due to the guilt he felt from previous decisions. Here are some applications to choose from to use this week...

• Misfired ~ Sometimes we do things in life with hopes to accomplish one particular goal but what comes out of it is something completely different - in a negative way. Maybe we say something sarcastic that comes across rude, instead of humorous. Maybe we try some sort of a stunt and we end up damaging us or something else. Regardless of the situation, we were going one direction, but we ended up with a negative outcome. Herod made a promise that he probably thought would have one outcome, but there was actually a negative one that resulted. May we try to think ahead with our decisions to help the outcome not be a "misfire."
• Not 'Over-correcting' ~ When a decision you've made causes you to feel so bad that you want to try to make up for it by doing something good, then you may over-correct that mistake. Over-correcting can cause problems. You may become out of control. Herod had this sense of "out of control" life with his decision that started with putting John in prison. John didn't make it any easier as his boldness cost him his life. For us, if we are feeling guilt then we need to watch how we react and
• Throwing Off the Weight ~ You have carried this guilt with you for the past several hours to days, maybe weeks or months. Worst case scenario, years. How fun has it been to have that weight with you day-in-and-day-out? It is likely stressing you out and may actually be causing physical damage to your body. That damage could lessen your lifespan. Is the weight and stress of the guilt better than confessing your wrong and dealing with the consequences/repercussions? I have been in the first part of this application and though the repercussion was not enjoyable, it was definitely freeing! If you have something to confess, there will be a sense of freedom that you experience. I am not suggesting the repercussions will be the most pleasant but it will be better on your body than carrying around the stress from guilt.

Guilt is not the most easy thing to deal with. The overwhelming majority of the time, the guilt is something we brought on ourselves. We made the choice to do whatever it was where guilt was the effect. How has guilt affected you - in the past or present? Have you had opportunities to release some of the weight? Have you carried some guilt on your shoulders through life that caused you to be prematurely stressed? Have you over-corrected with other choices in life because you felt guilt? Have you procrastinated due to guilt? Lots of things we may do because of guilt! The sooner you can release it the better things will be, in the end. The longer you carry it the worse things will become.

Now it's your turn...How can you relate to this post on guilt and its affects on your life?