Ask the Pastor: What do I do about Guilt?
“How do I know if what I’m feeling is conviction from the Holy Spirit or just my own guilt talking?” The Bible speaks with remarkable nuance about guilt. It never denies that we are guilty before God or that our sin harms our neighbor. Scripture is far more honest about human failure than we usually are with ourselves. But it also refuses to leave us in the kind of guilt that collapses inward and corrodes the soul. The tension you’re naming—the pull of the Spirit’s conviction that leads to life and the weight of self‑driven guilt that turns inward—is something Scripture helps us discern. The Bible treats true guilt as an objective reality. We have sinned against God and one another, and that should trouble us. Psalm 51 is David’s confession that he has done real harm, and he refuses to minimize it. The prophets speak the same way: sin is not a feeling; it’s a rupture in relationship. In that sense, guilt is not psychological but moral. It names the truth about our condition. But Scr...