A Guilt Trip

Be not angry with yourselves for selling me.  Genesis 45:5 

Imagine the guilt that the brothers must have felt as they stood before their brother Joseph. But Joseph said: "Be not angry with yourselves or God did send me before you to preserve life" Genesis 45:5. Why do we guilt trip others? Because we've forgotten the grace we ourselves received when we didn't have a leg to stand on.

Our forgiveness is worthless unless it makes it possible

for others to forgive themselves. Self-forgiveness was Paul's hurdle! Listen: "I wasted the church" Gal. 1: 13). After imprisoning and beheading Christians he now preaches to them. And who's in the audience? The widows! The orphans!

The ancient Persians punished murderers by strapping the victim to their back. It dragged them down, identified them with their past, the smell of it drove others away and eventually it robbed them of their very life. Was this what Paul had in mind when he said: "Who will rescue me from this body of death?" Romans 7:24  Nothings heavier than guilt It will: 

(1) Drag you down and turn living into merely existing; 

(2) Cause you to leave a bad taste wherever you go. Even your friends will become exhausted and say, "Get over it;" 

(3) Destroy every new relationship you've got. Who wants a person having an affair with a corpse? You would only be using the new to numb the pain of the old; 

(4) Shorten your life because you aren't built to carry it. Cut it loose! Cry if you need to, but when the grieving is over bury it and move on. And that is what real forgiveness does for others!