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The conscience is like skin for your soul. Let me explain: One important job that skin has is to feel pain. Pain is actually a very god and helpful thing. Without it, you wouldn't know when you are doing something that is injuring your body. Pain lets you know, "Don't do that!" In fact, leprosy is a disease in which people lose feeling in their body. Because of this, they end up losing body parts because of the abuse they take without knowing it.

If the conscience is like skin, then guilt is like pain. Pain lets you know something that is harmful to your body. Guilt lets you know when something is harmful to your soul! Guilt is actually a good thing, and a gift from God. Our conscience is what "feels" the guilt and informs us (a) if we are about to do something wrong, (b) if we are doing something wrong, (3) if we did something wrong, and (d) if we did something wrong that we still need to make right.

Unfortunately, some people's consciences don't work right because they have a callused conscience. When we sin and don't listen to our conscience, a callus starts to build up. Eventually, you stop feeling guilt about things that you should feel guilt about.

The world would want to tell us that all guilt is bad. "We shouldn't be so down on ourselves. We shouldn't feel guilty; we should feel free to do whatever we want." Many people are spiritual lepers. Their conscience can't feel a thing anymore, and so their spiritual life resembles a leper's body.

No one wants guilt, but the answer for it isn't just to ignore it. We have many unhealthy responses to guilt that are all too common:

• Many people run away from God and from Christians. Being around them makes them feel their guilt more, and they don't want that. It's easier to avoid these people and groups. (And make sure to always have an excuse. You didn't stop going to church because of guilt. You stopped going because you didn't like the music. You didn't stop going to youth group because of sin, you stopped going because the people there are mean to you, or you don't get anything out of the message.)
• Many people hide from others. Many people hide their true self behind a deception. Some people even hide from themselves.
• Many people make excuses for their sin. If they can find an excuse, then they can tell themselves to not feel as guilty about it.
• Many people blame others. If it can be someone else's fault, then you don't have to feel so guilty.
• Many people think of themselves as a victim. It's a lot easier to think of yourself as a victim of someone else than as someone responsible for your own thoughts, words, and actions.

Satan wants you to run and hide and blame others just like Adam and Eve did after they sinned. Which of these unhealthy responses do you sometimes do?

The world's answer to guilt is also false. We don't need more "self-esteem" and "self-acceptance." We need forgiveness! We need to have our guilt taken away by the power of Christ who died on the cross for our sin. Without Jesus, we are guilty! But if you place your faith in Him alone, as the Son of God who died in your place, then the Bible promises you the amazing gift of complete forgiveness!

However as Christians, we are forgiven, but we still sin. When we sin, we don't lose our salvation. And thankfully, God doesn?t love us any less! BUT, our fellowship with God is damaged. We aren't as "close" to God anymore. What we need to do is confess and repent of our sins and get back on the right path. To confess means to "say the same thing as." We need to tell God that we now feel the same way about our sin as He feels. When we do that, God is faithful to forgive us!

Maybe this is a prayer that would help you: "God, what I did was wrong and sinful. I have sinned against You. I deserve to be punished for what I did. Further, I hate my sin and I turn from it. Please help me to do that. Make this sin as repulsive to me as it is to You. Thank You for Your forgiveness! Thank You Lord Jesus for dying on the cross to take away my sin and guilt!" Also, try reading Psalm 51.

Here is a flow chart to help you figure out if guilt you feel is legitimate or illegitimate. Obviously, your response should be different depending if Christ is your Savior or not. Also, sometimes guilt can be a lie from Satan to hold us back in our walk with God. Remember, Satan wants us to hide from God and from Christians. Satan will try to make you feel guilty about things that you really didn't have any control over. He will also try to make you wallow in guilt about sins that Christ has already forgiven.

Our goal is to have what the Bible calls a clear conscience. (good conscience -Acts. 23:1, 1Tim. 1:5, 18-19, blameless conscience -Acts 24:10, clear conscience -2 Tim. 1:3) Basically, this is a conscience that doesn't accuse us of anything, because all of our sins have been forgives and dealt with. The gift of a clear conscience is one of the greatest gifts there is! In fact, it is a gift which would put most mental health workers out of business!

You can have a clear conscience if you do what is needed to get right with God.

• Stop telling your conscience to shut up
• Stop running
• Stop hiding
• Stop making excuses
• Stop blaming others

• Confess any known sin
• Ask God to reveal to you any sin you're not thinking about
• Forsake that sin
• Ask forgiveness & be reconciled to anyone you have wronged
• Make restitution (do what you need to make things right)
• Don't procrastinate in clearing your wounded conscience

• Don't go back to your old way of sin! Avoid it like the plague!
• Educate your conscience (Feed your conscience God's truth from the Bible so that it can do a better job of knowing what is right and what is wrong.)
• Ask the Holy Spirit to make your conscience more sensitive to His prodding
• Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the next area of your life you need to work on