You ever read a verse and feel instant conviction?
You ever experience a sense of surgery-on-my-soul while sitting under the preaching of the Word?
Do you struggle with guilt?
None of these things is bad.
We should feel that prodding of conviction because none of us have arrived.
We should feel the sword of the Spirit doing His incisive work as it is preached in His church.
To be sure, we have plenty to feel guilty about.
The question is – what do we do with it?
You know the feeling.
You know that you have blown it.
You know the gospel is for those who have blown it (sinned).
But somehow you cannot apply the gospel to your own situation right now?
You cannot deal with your guilt.
What can you do?
My answer is simple. Believe the gospel.
Listen to this trusted old counsel from the Heidelberg Catechism
“Even though my conscience accuses me of having grievously sinned against all God’s commandments and of never having kept any of them, and even though I am still inclined toward all evil, nevertheless, without my deserving it at all, out of sheer grace, God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if I had never sinned nor been a sinner, as if I had been as perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for me. All I need to do is to accept this gift of God with a believing heart.”