Escaping Guilt: The Unique Solution Jesus Provides for Your Past

I know I'm a preacher. But I admit that the word "sin" is a loaded term. I am very aware that it carries religious weight and that many people feel it to be an outdated term, maybe even irrelevant. It makes some people think of fire and brimstone sermons, lots of rules, and the threat of punishment.

But the thing is, none of us can erase the reality of right and wrong. Even if we strip away the religious language, when we do something wrong, we still feel guilt and regret. We still find ourselves dealing with things we wish we could undo.

Guilt is a beast. It is that feeling deep in our gut when we know we have hurt somebody. Or when we know the exact moment that we crossed a line. So, regardless of whether we use the word sin or we use the word wrong, the reality of guilt is too real to ignore. And we all have to figure out what to do with guilt.

How We Try to Explain Wrong

People have different ways of thinking about wrong, and I’ve noticed that how we talk about it depends significantly on how we think we should deal with it. 

For example, some believe wrong is about harm—if something hurts others, it’s wrong. The way to fix it is to balance things by doing more good than bad. If I hurt someone, I just need to compensate for it by helping others. So, I just try to tip the scales in the right direction.

I understand the appeal of that. It makes morality feel measurable, like a math problem you can solve. However, the problem is that two positives never erase a negative. If I stole something and then gave money to charity, the theft isn’t undone. The wrong I did is still there, unchanged.

Others believe wrong is about breaking moral rules—there are things we shouldn’t do, period. And if we do them, we must own up to it and take responsibility. If I do something wrong, I should admit it, accept the consequences, and try to do better next time.

This idea sounds like a solid perspective. Only if I've done something that can't be undone, taking responsibility doesn’t erase the fact that it happened. If I lie to someone and break their trust, apologizing might be the right thing, but it doesn’t erase the damage I’ve done. Once broken, some things can’t just go back to how they were.

Still others take a different approach. They believe wrong is about not living up to our best selves. Maybe you've heard the phrase, "Be the best version of yourself you can be.” these people believe the most important thing about making mistakes is learning from them, growing, and committing to being better people.

I am all for self-improvement. But the reality is, even if I become a better person tomorrow, I’m still the same person who made mistakes yesterday. Self-improvement doesn’t erase my past. It doesn’t undo the choices I’ve already made.

A group of people also argue that right and wrong are shaped by culture. Guilt is something we inherit from the expectations of the world around us. And because culture changes over time, guilt is something we simply outgrow. In other words, if we stop believing certain things are wrong, we'll stop feeling guilty about them.

The wrinkle is that guilt doesn't always fade with time. Some people feel guilt decades after making a bad choice. They regret it, even if the cultural perspective has completely changed. No matter how society shifts its views, people can still feel guilt over something the world says is okay.

And there's one more. This one is a biggie. For some people, wrong is all about relationships. What matters is whether you have damaged trust or hurt someone. And if that's the case, then the way to deal with guilt is by repairing the broken relationship.

But what do you do with your guilt when the damage can't be undone? What if the person I wronged won’t forgive me? Or, what if they’re no longer around?

The Problem With All of These Views

You may have noticed that all of the views I shared with you have an element of truth. Doing good matters. Taking responsibility is important. Growing as a person is necessary. Making amends is right. 

However, each of these views also has a major problem. None of them actually remove guilt. They give us ways to cope with guilt, ways to manage it, and even ways to bury it. But none of them erase it.

If guilt is real—if that deep, unshakable sense that we’ve done something wrong isn’t just a trick of the mind—then we need more than behavior modification. We need something that resolves it.

Let me give you an insight. Guilt isn't just about our actions. When I feel guilt, it is not only because I recognize I did something wrong; it's also because I realize that I am capable of harming others, making choices that can't be undone, and failing to be the person I want to be. In other words, guilt is an identity issue. It points to who I am.

And no amount of good deeds, apologies, or self-improvement changes the fact that I already did what I did. Neither can they change who I am.

Why Christianity Offers Something Different

This is where Christianity is completely unique. Instead of offering strategies to manage guilt, Jesus provides a way to remove it.

Listen. Jesus was a real person. His death on the cross wasn’t a legend—it was a real event recorded in history. And His resurrection isn’t just a Christian belief. It is grounded in historical evidence. Before Jesus, Jewish and Greco-Roman ideas of the afterlife looked nothing like the resurrection story found in the Gospels. History shows that after Jesus was raised from the dead, belief in a bodily resurrection exploded in growth. The only explanation for the sudden wide-scale change of belief is that people had actually encountered the resurrected Jesus. 

This is important for our guilt because the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus provide evidence that His message of forgiveness is true. That’s why the message of forgiveness through Him spread like wildfire in the first century.

This forgiveness isn’t about earning our way back to God. It isn’t about tipping the scales with good works or pretending our past didn't happen. Forgiveness is about something entirely different. It is an actual solution for guilt.

If Jesus really is who He said He is, then He alone has the authority to remove guilt. Christianity doesn’t offer a strategy for coping with guilt. If Jesus is truly the Son of God, and if His death was truly the payment for our wrongs, then forgiveness isn’t based on whether we feel worthy of it or can undo the past. It isn’t even based on whether others approve of our being forgiven. Forgiveness is based on whether HE declares it.

And if HE does, then guilt isn’t something I have to manage anymore. It’s something that is completely, finally, eternally gone.

I just wanted to share some good news with you. Christianity is different from every other approach to morality and guilt. Every other view leaves me with something to fix, something to improve, something to carry. But Jesus offers me something better.

HE offers a way to be free from guilt.