Beyond Guilt

When we accept the chasm between our plenty and the world’s lack, our first response might be something else we have to move past on our way to Christmas Change.

Guilt.

The Problem With Guilt

I believe that if we only respond to the need of the world with guilt feelings, we won’t experience the kind of heart, family and culture change we’re longing for, the kind to which we are called. Resolutions founded in guilt go the way of many Monday morning diet plans.

The problem with guilt is that it is still primarily self-focused. Guilt is not about the suffering of the world, or even the softening of our hearts. It is about how badly we feel about what we have done or left undone. It is still about us.

Guilt paralyzes. We can become mired in our own emotional reaction until real world action seems impossible. What can we do for a suffering world? We want to stop feeling badly about ourselves, so we make a token gesture to push the guilt away.

From Guilt to Conviction and Creativity

We can move past guilt to a place of conviction. Conviction looks at the space between our abundance and a needy world and asks, “How can I respond?  In what ways do I need to be changed by this?” The convicted soul longs to be transformed both in action and for action.

I think this distinction, between the self-paralysis of guilt and the power of conviction, is especially important as we introduce our children to Christmas Change.  Making our children feel guilty about all the toys they own or the ones they’re asking for won’t sow the seeds for compassion and empathetic generosity. (Dinner table clean plate lectures, anyone?)

Instead, as we talk with our kids about the world in need and its implications for our own celebration, we’ll have to get creative. As we show them the need for clean water, or schooling, or food security, let’s make available to them the tools they need to respond. This could be a shoebox to fill, a trip to the grocery store with a food pantry’s wish list, or a first letter written to a newly sponsored child. Being ready both to guide and to incorporate their ideas says loud and clear that they can contribute, they can make change happen. And as they do, their hearts will be changed as well.  This powerful combination of spiritual revolution and present, practical action is woven everywhere in the ministry of Jesus, the ministry He beckons us to join.

We are all made in the image of God, the wildly creative incarnational Giver. And in His glorious economy, as we offer ourselves to be used in the world He made, He continues to break and remake our hearts, and give us a lamp for our feet. As we move beyond guilt, we follow Him into real change.

Tagged as: Giving, Guilt, Incarnational Living