How to Trade Guilt for Joy

I remember it like it was yesterday:

My heart raced.

My eyes shifted downward.

And I sputtered out an excuse that sounded lame even to my ears.

My mom had just caught me doing something I wasn’t allowed to do—and I knew I was in the wrong.

Did you ever have a moment like this as a kid?

It’s a heavy feeling to stand before someone you answer to, knowing you are at fault.

And on an even larger scale, this is how we humans deserve to stand before God.

You see, even though our stories may differ, each of us has chosen our way over God’s way at some point. And as a result, Scripture says we are guilty before the God we answer to.

Incredibly though, it doesn’t have to be this way.

Listen to Jude 24-25:

“To Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.” (NIV)

There are many deep truths in this passage, but let me highlight just one for you:

Through Jesus, God enables us to stand before Him in a whole new way.

We can stand before God without fault.

Many people think of Christianity as a guilt-ridden, “get it right” religion. But that is not the Christianity of Scripture.

The Bible tells us that Jesus died bearing the guilt of our sins.

So if we have accepted Jesus, we don’t have to trudge through life with our shoulders weighted down and our eyes averted in shame.

The guilt, shame and punishment for all our mistakes were nailed to the cross with Jesus. And now, we stand before God innocent—actually, better than innocent.

Because Jesus didn’t just wipe our slate clean, He also gave us His own perfect record of righteousness to claim as our own.

When we stand before God, we need not face Him with hearts racing, eyes averted and lame excuses tumbling out of our mouths.

We can stand—calmly and confidently—in the righteousness of Christ.

There is no guilt to hide.

There is no punishment to await.

Because of Jesus, we stand before God completely without fault.

And as a result…

We can stand before God with great joy.

When our eyes are no longer turned inward on our failings, we can look up and catch a glimpse of true joy: God is with us.

The one and only God…

who reigns unrivaled on the highest throne
who never changes and is always dependable
whose character shines and melts away the darkness
whose mind created all the beauty we see in this world
who isn’t scared away by our failings or woundedness, but who loves us enough to have sacrificed everything for our good

…this is a God we can be near and intimate with.

He is our God, our Savior.

And He invites us to explore and enjoy Him—both now and forever.

Psalm 16:11 says of God, “…In Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever.” (NASB)

This is how we, as Christians, get to stand before God now: with overflowing enjoyment.

In Christ, we get to trade guilt for joy in God’s presence.

Putting it into Practice:

So if you are a Christian, how will these truths cause you to praise God today? And what will you do to embrace and enjoy your new standing before God?

And if you’re not a Christian, how does what you read today impact you? Is there any part of you that longs for the clean-slate and joy described here?

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Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation. www.lockman.org

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