20 January | Youth
«But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.» Psalm 130:4
One of the greatest challenges of the Christian life is the fight against feelings of guilt. It didn't take me (Ailton) long to understand that this happened to a lot of people, not just me. Like me, several of my friends had difficulty understanding and accepting God's forgiveness and feeling free from guilt and condemnation. This inner conflict is not exclusive to young people and teenagers, even though it is said that youth is a phase of mistakes and successes, attempts, risks, falls, disappointments...
Even if we know the biblical promises regarding forgiveness, whenever our conscience accuses us, the feeling of guilt makes us feel unworthy of divine grace and forgiveness. What a contradiction: knowing that God forgives us but having the constant feeling of not having been forgiven by Him! So, when we fall, we pray, we struggle, we cry and we promise faithfulness again, crushed by a guilty conscience that realizes that the pleasure of sin is short-lived and not worth it.
It's comforting to know that God loves us and forgives us despite our faults. Divine forgiveness does not depend on what we feel, but on the essence of God, that is, on who He is, and He is love. Someone might ask: “But what about divine justice? Where is it? Would it be fair to forgive someone who knowingly and repeatedly sins?” Unlike human justice, God's justice is never cold, random, or blind, but constant and compassionate. God gave His own Son out of love for us, to redeem us from the guilt and power of sin. God is fair and judges fairly. However, in His judgment mercy prevails. If this were not so, how could the repentant sinner be restored?
Until Jesus returns, when we will be forever freed from sin, we must believe in divine goodness, confess our sins, repair our mistakes and move forward without becoming discouraged. So, if you are tempted to doubt God's forgiveness, no matter how you feel, trust the biblical promise, learn to depend on Jesus and move forward by faith. This is the secret of victory!