Believers in Christ often wrestle with discouragement and shame over past sins. This could then prompt doubt about God’s love. They may feel unworthy to be His child. Their guilty feeling then weight them down, sap their energy, dampen their hope and draw them away from the Lord.
Both conscience and the Holy Spirit produce feelings of guilt and conviction within us when we sin. This will prompt us to confess and repent. However, if we have trusted Jesus as our Savior, there is no reason to to hang on to remorse after repentance because Jesus bore the guilt for all our sins when He died on the cross.
Now we are forgiven and reconciled to Christ and again seen as the righteousness of God. Remember, although we still sin, God has given us a path to restoration and cleansing through confession. (1 John:1:9) Because of this, we do not have to wallow in guilt and shame.
John 5:24-26
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