Ever felt like you had to earn God’s love and approval? That you had to be good enough, or even perfect, to be called His child? The truth is, however many mistakes we’ve made, or are going to make in the future, we’re seen as righteous by God. Jesus never sinned, but because He took all our sin and shame when He died on the cross, we now have the opportunity to experience God and eternal life. The Bible says: ‘God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.’ God sees us through the lens of Jesus, who is truly righteous. When He sees us, He sees righteousness. How amazing is that? That doesn’t mean that we should stop trying to become more like Jesus, or stop confessing our sin to Him. We still need to ask for His forgiveness and help in becoming more like Him. The closer we get to God, the further we’ll want to run from a life of sin. It also doesn’t mean that we’ll never experience the feeling of guilt. Guilt helps us to realise that we’ve done something which we need to take to God. We can never be perfect. We’ll never escape sin while we’re here on earth. And God knew that we’d never be able to make ourselves righteous, that’s why He did it this way. The Bible says: ‘“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed”’ (1 Peter 2:24 NIV). God sees us clothed in the righteousness of Christ, therefore we’re always loved and accepted by Him.

What Now?

Next time you feel guilty, use the feeling as a reminder to take everything to God and then accept His forgiveness.