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Guilt is a hazardous substance, and I
must handle it with care. A burden of guilt lowers my self-esteem and
makes it harder to be a positive person. Guilt falls more into the
realm of punishment, and its debilitating effects make positive change
more difficult.
Guilt has the wrong focus. It focuses on my weaknesses, failures, and
undesirable behavior. What I focus on expands first into my mind and
then into my life. When I feel guilty, I focus on what is wrong. This
negative focus predisposes me to the repetition of undesirable
behavior. Guilt is a non-resourceful state. My best opportunity for
creating positive change is when I am in an empowered state. It doesn’t
make sense to load myself up with guilt, and then expect my behavior to
magically improve.
I don’t punish other people with guilt, and I don’t punish myself with
it either. I don’t put it in my travel bags; lugging around guilt is a
waste of energy that I could use to make the world a better place. If I
have a problem, I solve it. I don’t waste my time feeling guilty about
it; I get on with my life and move in the direction of my dreams.
Copyright © 2013
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The world GUILT is actually an acronym.
Guilt Unleashes Incredibly Limiting Thoughts.
When you feel guilty, inertia takes over, and limitations multiply like
jackrabbits in the outback of Australia.
Guilt would be great if it made you stronger. If it supercharged your
life and turned on your afterburners, guilt would be your best friend.
Unfortunately, guilt does just the opposite. It makes you weaker, puts
sand in your supercharger, and snuffs out your afterburner. When guilt
has completed its dastardly deed, it recites a litany of limitations
just to remind you that you are a worthless human being, and there is no
chance your life will ever improve. In fact, there is no limit to how
miserable your life can become when guilt is in control.
Religious authorities sometimes use guilt to manipulate people. They
create an atmosphere in which over-scrupulous victims are made to feel
eternally guilty for every mistake they have ever made. Unfortunately,
the wrong people are being burdened with a sense of guilt they don't
deserve. Furthermore, the people who should feel guilty seem immune to
this type of manipulation. This strategy takes aim on the guilty, but
hits the innocent right between the eyes. It harms more people than it
helps, and it reflects poorly on those who practice it. Jesus didn't
pile on guilt, and you shouldn't do it either. You will only hurt
yourself and the people you love.
Jesus used guilt sparingly, except then he dealt with religious
authorities who were ensnared in self-righteousness. These religious
know-it-alls thought they had everything figured out, and if you didn't
agree with them, they didn't hesitate to tell you that you were wrong.
They were the God Squad, addicted to the law, and they had a compulsive
need to be right. Their religion was an ostentatious display of
self-righteousness. Jesus didn't cut them any slack. He made it clear
that the focus of their life was wrong. Jesus would not allow these
spiritual bean counters to get away with their hypocrisy. He hit them
right between the eyes with a major dose of truth, but the record shows
most of the time it had little positive effect. These meticulously
self-righteous people rarely felt guilt. Why should they? After all,
they were perfect.
You will never see a guilty person made better by heaping more guilt
upon their head. Piling on guilt only results in more spiritual and
emotional damage. Guilty people need love, and they need power to
overcome the problem that caused their guilt in the first place. They
need to experience the power of God's love so it can wash the guilt from
their mind and heal their damaged emotions.
Navigating through a wasteland of guilt can be tough if you try to do it
on your own. Without God's help, Guilt Unleashes Incredibly Limiting
Thoughts. If you are alive spiritually and God is your Father, guilt no
longer casts its long shadow on your life. The acronym for guilt
changes to God Unleashes Incredible Love
Today.
God's love is the antidote for guilt. When God's incredible love rolls
through your heart and mind, it washes guilt away. God not only
forgives, He forgets. He not only wipes the slate clean, He throws the
slate away.
Usually, you feel guilty for one of two reasons. Either you have
violated the laws of the moral universe, and you should feel guilty, or
the guilt reflects the twisted thinking associated with depression, and
the guilt is inappropriate because you have done nothing wrong. In
either case, God's love is the cure. If you have done something wrong,
God's love and forgiveness can easily take care of it. If you are
suffering from twisted thinking associated with depression, God's love
can straighten out your thoughts.
The most powerful force in the universe is God's love. Nothing is more
effective at eradicating guilt and transforming lives in a positive
direction. God loves and accepts you as you are, and He is going to
give you the power to overcome whatever is causing your guilt. Nothing
is too hard for God's love. He is the Great Physician and healing
broken hearts is his specialty.
If you have a problem with guilt, open your heart to God's love. You
have nothing to lose except an old life dominated by guilt. There is no
limit to how good your life can become when your heart is full of God's
love.
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